
PubUthtd by FRANCISCO FERRER ASSOCIATION. 241 Fifth Avenu., New York. 



CONTENTS 



Portrait of Ferrer 

Ferrer ( Poem ) . By Herman Scheff auer 

A Song of Solidarity. By Bayard Boyesen. c 

Fbrrer As His Friends Saw Hm. By Renato Rugieres .' ." " 6 

Ferrer's Early Life. From the French jo 

Ferrer and Mademoiselle Meunier. From the French. . 13 
Some Sidelights on Ferrer's Personality. By William 

Heaford o • 

The Best Books on Ferrer ^ 

The Social Struggle in Spain. By Hippolyte Havel 27 

The History OF the Modern Schools. By William Heaford 31 

Elisee Reclus's "Man and the Earth" 

Ferrer's Syndicalism ', 

To Francisco Ferrer (Poem). By jVwilliam' Lloyd." ." Z 

Abbou °^ ^^''^' ^^ "'^^" '^"^*' ^^'"' *"^ ^'°"^^'^ 

Twelve Hours of Agony— How Ferrer dIed! ^ 

The Aftermath 

Ferrer's Last Letters from Prison % 

The Significance of Ferrer's Death. By' Emma Goidm"an" 70 

1 HE Immortality of Ferrer. By W. M. Van der Weyde 72 
Tributes OF Eminent Men: Ernst Haeckel, Maxim Gorky. 
HavelockElhs Edward Carpenter, Jack London, Upton 

Smclair, Hutchins Hapgood 

The Children without a Teacher. By Jaime Vidal 70 

A Tribute to Ferrer. By G. H. B. Ward 8( 

Lester F. Ward on Spain and Ferrer [[ g^ 

The Slain Prophet. By Thaddeus B. Wakeman! '.'. 84 

H. Percy Ward's Tribute ' gg 

Ferrer's Will 

Messages that Ferrer Wrote on the Pmson Wall 88 

Ferrer and the Two Orphan Boys . go 

In Commemoration of Ferrer 

A Modern School in America ^ 

The Organization of the American Ferrer Association" 92 






n 



The man we celebrate zvas a pioneer and idealist. His 
vision pierced so far that only a feiv understood. The 
others killed hiui, on false charges. But in his death 
he has become more powerful than during his life. He 
transcends all national boundaries. His name is a neio 
symbol of martyrdom. He takes his place with Socrates, 
Christ, Savonarola, Huss, Giordano Bruno. 



\Ji 



m 







FRANCISCO FERRER 

The Twentieth Century Martyr 



FRANCISCO FERRER 

His Life, Work and Martyrdom 

Published on the first anniversary of his death by the Francisco Ferrer Association 
241 Fifth Avenue, New York 



Edited by Leonard D. Abbott 



FRANCISCO FERRER was born at Alella, near 
Barcelona, in 1859. His parents, well-to-do farm- 
ers, were devoted Catholics, but he, as soon as he 
began to think for himself, became a Freethinker. 

In 1879 he proclaimed himself a Republican. He took 
part in an abortive revolution led by General Villa- 
campa, was compelled to flee to Paris, and there became 
secretary to the Spanish Republican leader, Ruiz Zorrilla. 

While in Paris, Ferrer supported himself by giving 
lessons in Spanish. A lady by the name of Mile. Meunier 
became his pupil and his confidante. He told her of a 
hope he had conceived of a new Spain freed from the 
stifling grip of Roman Catholicism, and regenerated by 
education and progressive ideals. She sympathized with 
his vision, and when she died left him a large bequest. 

Ferrer returned to Spain, and in 1901 started the first 
of his Modern Schools. He used as text-books some of 
the greatest radical and scientific works of the day, by 
Kropotkin, by Elisee Reclus, and others. 

From the first the Roman Catholics were bitterly hos- 
tile to the Modern Schools. They looked for an excuse 
to suppress them, and in 1906 their opportunity came. 
Mateo Morral, who had been connected with the 
schools, threw a bomb at the King and Queen of Spain. 
Ferrer was charged with complicity in the act, and held 
in prison for a whole year. But nothing could be proved 
against him. 

The second opportunity of the clericals came in July, 
1909, when an uprising inspired by indignation against 
an unjust war in Morocco took place in Barcelona. 

Ferrer was arrested again, this time on the charge of 
having been the head and chief of the Barcelona upris- 
ing. The second charge was as false as the first one. 

Nevertheless, he was condemned to death by a court- 
martial, and was shot at Montjuich fortress on October 
13. His last words were : 

"Long Live the Modern School!" 



6 Francisco Ferrer, 

For every ruler broken 
A million men shall live. 

One Bourbon heart bereaving, 

Crushed out the black Pope's ban, 

And lo, a world's heart heaving 
To tJie general heart of man! 
it' i»< k»< 

yc W y: 

FERRER AS HIS FRIENDS SAW HIM 

By Renato Rugieres. 

IT IS almost ini])ossible to write or to speak of a loved 
friend when the wound of his death is still fresh in 
our heart, and our eyes full of tears. But, in spite 
of all, I feel it my duty to consecrate some lines to the 
martyr's memory. 

The last long chat I had with him was in "Mas Ger- 
minal," near Mongat, on July 3, 1909, viz., some days 
before the general strike protesting against the war, 
which strike ended in an unexpected manner. 

I had received a letter inviting me to spend a day with 
him. I well remember him. It seems as though I see 
him now at the Mongat station waiting for me. It was 
ten o'clock. He was wearing a simple linen suit and a 
straw hat, like an ordinary farmer. He received me with 
his accustomed amiability, and embraced me very affec- 
tionately. On the road to "Mas Germinal" he spoke to 
me about his stay at his brother's. 

"You know," he said, "that my dear niece died, and on 
account of her illness I am here. I intended to stay in 
London some months more in order to improve my knowl- 
edge of the English language, and search for something 
good and useful for our schools. In England there are 
many thinkers, and although their writings arc intended 
for their own people, we can use them by making a few 
explanations in the translations of them. When we 
reach home, I will show you a book I have already read, 
and I should like to publish it. Have the kindness to 
translate it into Spanish, if you consider it in accordance 
with our aims. The passages marked with blue pencil, 
and others with ink, you may take out; they touch upon 
religious matters, and our books are for laic teaching." 



His Life and Work. 7 

The good man who politely begged for my opinion and 
my help, was helping me by giving me that work of 
translation ! 

The "dangerous" book, which I had no time to finish 
before I left Barcelona, was "The Children's Book of 
Moral Lessons," by Gould ; printed by a publishing firm 
in Fleet Street, London, English people should know 
the book so that they may be able to judge the "terrible 
evil" the educationist Ferrer was doing in the land of 
Maria Santisima. 

On arriving at the farm "Mas Germinal," I met Sole- 
dad Villafranca, also wearing the plain country dress, 
and managing the house; in the garden I encountered 
Ferrer's brother bending over his beloved soil, gathering 
his strawberries to carry to Barcelona market early next 
morning; his wife was also busily employed. Everybody 
producing something, and I wondered if the martyr was 
really rich. 

The house was a modest one, built in the old-fashioned 
Spanish style; and the furniture was certainly neither 
choice nor expensive. 

The happiness of those people, who, instead of living 
in the stupid manner of the riches cochotis, preferred to 
be useful to their fellows by enlightening their minds — I 
marvel now that it could be destroyed, and in the name 
of justice! 

Before dinner we chatted incessantly about "our" 
schools — as he called them — encouraging me to take 
charge of a small one, to make my initiation or debut, be- 
cause I had never made special pedagogic studies. 

"Don't worry about those trifles," he said to me kindly ; 
"the aims of the modern teacher ought to be to teach the 
child how to use his brains ; to form from every child a 
being with his own will, able to know by his own con- 
science what is wrong and what is right. We do not 
intend to make lawyers or physicians ; we desire only to 
give the first instructions, free, absolutely free, of re- 
ligious and some social prejudices. It is a fact," he con- 
tinued, "a thousand times proved, that the greatest edu- 
cationists were not professional teachers. You are still 
young, and maybe some day you will become one of my 
best collaborators," he finished, smilingly, putting his 
hand affectionately on my shoulder. 



8 Francisco Ferrer, 

Our unfortunate friend, indeed, is a proof of the truth 
of his opinions, because he was in his country one of the 
pioneers of the mode of instruction in the future. 

At dinner-time on the table was a hlsi; dish containing 
rice and chicken — chickens are cheap in the Spanish 
country — and Ferrer said to me laughingly. "Let me 
help you well, because there are no more dishes besides 
this one." 

The conversation during- dinner was chiefly carried on 
by his brother Jose, about the farm, potatoes, onions, etc. 
Then I understood quite well the origin of the saying of 
their friends. Francisco's friends said, "He is a fanatic 
about his schools" ; Jose friends said, "He is a fanatic 
about his ground and his potatoes." Certainly they were 
two fanatics, but their fanaticism could never le like that 
of the capitalists and priests, who only desire money and 
power. 

Nevertheless, one brother has been dispossessed of his 
farm, and the other martyred by the blind vengeance of 
priest and capitalist. 

In the afternoon we went to the cultivated piece of 
land, and again the conversation turned on "our" schools. 
Ah! this noble fanatic, always thinking of the welfare of 
others. 

"I have an idea," he said suddenly, taking me by the 
arm, "merely a dream, even Soledad does not know it. 
You know," he added, "that I intend to extend my pub- 
lishing business, and to establish in Barcelona another 
'Modern School,' better than that which was closed years 
ago, furnished with the most modern material and with a 
staff who have improved their knowledge in Paris. 
Afterwards, and this is my dream, I should like to build 
here a country house, where the teachers of our schools 
could enjoy their last years. Do you think the place is 
nice? Look at these beautiful views, the trees, the sea, 
and over all plenty of sun. It is only a dream," he said 
sadly; "I do not know if it will be possible or not. One 
finds so many difficulties in carrying out educational work 
in a country where the priests are in power !" 

At five o'clock we entered the cottage to take tea, an 
English tea, which reminded me of my first stay in this 
country last year. 

The brother Jose and his wife were in Australia for 



His Life and Work. Q 

many years, and therefoi-e they speak English like natives. 
Soledad was trying to compete with me in my broken 
pronunciation of English, and they were all very much 
amused at our efforts. 

When about six o'clock my regretted friend and I 
reached Mongat station, he pointed out to me a man of 
repulsive appearance on the platform, and in a low voice, 
and smiling, said to me, "That is 'my man' " — this was 
the name he gave to the secret policeman ordered by the 
Government to follow him everywhere when in Spain. 
"Do you not think it is a funny affair? Happily, this 
one is very lazy, and he does not like to disturb himself 
to follow me up to 'Mas Germinal.' Only when I go to 
Barcelona, he accompanies me." 

The train arrived ; we shook hands, and I entered a 
second-class car of the Spanish "tortoise railway." The 
train departed. Once more my feelings of admiration 
and love for that noble man increased. In his private 
life and in his public affairs he was the same. He prac- 
ticed his ideals. No wonder he lost his life for them! 

This is the "terrible criminal" who, according to 
Maura's Cabinet, was at that time arranging the burning 
of the convents and the profanation of the graves ! 

One of the most frequent, and at the same time unjust, 
charges made against him by the Jesuits and the rotten 
Catalonian capitalists of the so-called "Liga Religional- 
ista," is that in the laic schools dangerous doctrines were 
taught against the "pure" society, home life, order, holy 
jingoism, and so on. 

I was in one of the best Rationalist schools in Bar- 
celona for some months, serving what one may call my 
"apprenticeship" at the modern teaching; therefore I 
am able to testify that not a word was said there which 
the most strict and severe judge, if honorable, could call 
law-breaking. No incitement to violent methods, no in- 
sults against the priests. Nothing, absolutely nothing 
which was not perfectly within the limits of justice and 
truth. . . . 

The Jesuits, the Catalonian capitalists of the "Liga." 
Maura and his friends, I am almost sure know as well as 
I what kind of instruction was given in the schools which 
caused the murder of the noble founder and supporter; 
but they were anxious to crush Ferrer at any cost, be- 



10 Francisco Ferrer, 

cause his scliools might destroy the power of that black 
confederation of tyrants. Therefore they were, and are, 
trying to confound the educationist Ferrer with the 
"Apaches" who have been given the very much cahuni- 
nated name of Anarchist. 

Truth will shine some day, and those who now approve 
the murder of Ferrer, because they did not know him 
personally or his work, will be the first to render homage 
to this martyr of modern civilization. The man whose 
death can cause tears even to those who only knew him 
by his work and good deeds, and can arouse an almost 
international protest against the murderers, certainly was 
not an "Apache." 

Rest in peace, beloved friend ; thy memory will always 
live in my heart and in the hearts of all those who in any 
way fight for freedom. — From London Freedom. 

y= «.' «? 

FERRER'S EARLY LIFE 

Translated From the French of G. Normandy and 
E. Lesueur By Helen Tufts Bailie. / 

FRANCISCO FERRER was born, in 1859, at Alella 
(not Abella, as it has been so often misprinted), 
a village eighteen miles from Barcelona. He be- 
longed to a family of vine-dressers, tenant-farmers, in 
rather easy circumstances. He received a strict Catholic 
education. His first years were passed quietly among 
the vines, where he worked during the week, and on 
Sunday at church, whither he accompanied his grand- 
mother. 

Of unusual intelligence and independent and vigorous 
character, he chafed under the severe discipline of work 
in the field. He completed his education alone, as well 
as he could, and was very soon at variance with his par- 
ents, who were peasants and rigidly conservative. In 
1879, at the age of twenty, he announced himself a Re- 
publican, with such candor and enthusiasm that he was 
obliged to leave the vineyards of Alella and the paternal 
roof. Fate befriended him. He became a railroad in- 
spector, a satisfactory post to a young man of his age, 
assuring him freedom from mental and material worry. 
But Ferrer's character forbade his thus sinking into an 



His Life and Work. ii 

unruffled egoism. He regarded his employment simply 
as a necessary means for providing him with subsistence, 
thanks to which he could the better labor for the triumph 
of that ideal which he ever bore within his soul, and from 
the first he mingled actively in political life. 

He took part in the insurrectionary attempt of Santa- 
Coloma de Fames, and followed the movement directed 
by General Villacampa, after the failure of which he took 
refuge in Paris. There he became secretary to Ruiz 
Zorilla, leader of the Spanish Republican party (1834- 
1895), Zorilla could not pay for Francisco's work, and 
he had to cast about for means of livelihood. With the 
courage which never forsook him, whether he faced 
material difficulties or the storm of bullets that ended 
his life, he engaged in various undertakings, among other 
things becoming a dealer in wines. He even returned 
to Spain, where for a short time he lived an unsettled 
life, at Madrid especially. Then he discovered his voca- 
tion : he decided to be a teacher. 

Very young he had suffered from the want of an edu- 
cation, and so, when he had succeeded in filling the gaps 
— through his own indomitable efforts and despite the 
hostility of his superstitious and illiterate village neigh- 
bors, the resistance of his family, and poverty itself in 
many forms — he longed to share with his compatriots 
what he had learned. His kind heart made him an ex- 
cellent mentor, an educator of the first rank, an apostle 
of modern scientific instruction. 

He could not hope to put his ideas into execution for 
a long time to come in his own unhappy country. Paris 
attracted him, and thither he returned, to become a teacher 
in the Cercle Populaire d'Enseignement Laique, where 
he very favorably impressed MM. Bourgeois and Le- 
drain ; then in the Association Philotechnicjue ; then in 
the Grand-Orient, in the Rue Cadet, where he taught 
every evening through 1897. He also gave private les- 
sons, which afforded him a modest competence. 

Little as he had, Ferrer found that he had more than 
enough for his own wants. So indifferent was he to 
everything outside the work upon which his mind was 
concentrated, that during that time he partook of but 
one meal a day. Some of the habitues of the unpre- 
tentious Blond eating-house, in the Rue du Faubourg- 



^^ Francisco Ferrer. 



Montniartrc, may still remember their fellow boarder - 

fv;r"r ."'•^'^'""' ^'V^^'^' ^"'^^ ^^-^^0"s in his manner 
with g hstening, coal-black eyes, a pointed beard hS 
brushed straight np.-rather bohemian in aspect' He 
gave one the impression of mental strength,— composed 

'^^Z'^h-n''''''''^- ^^' ^^^^"^ ^'^ effected by going 
without his dinner enabled him to assist countrvm?n o? 
his who were poorer than he. There were many "mong 

je^p^w::ll!:!:;::,f&^^ 

tional endovyments. His strong voice, which retained 
something of the harsh Catalonian intonation carried fa 

aptlv" The' s"b "•.''; 'fn^'' ^^^--'^ fluen[^ and 
aptly. The subjects for his lectures were drawn from 

the works of progressive writers, such as Reclus, whom 

he admired greatly, and better than any one else he knew 

how to make his conclusions understood and assimilated. 

tie lived at this time in two rooms, at No. 47 Rue 

Richer, paying a rent of 420 francs ($84) a vear It 

Pratim?.''' vT'' ^"^ highly esteemed work, "Espagnol 
1 ratique, which was published by Gamier, and which 
made him known to a very select French circle. It was 
through this vo ume that Mile. Ernestine Meunier be- 
came interested in Ferrer. 

It IS shameful-not to use a stronger expression-how 

vvn t'"/" r'^l,"'^' '"'^^ f '^^^ ^"*^^^^^s ^"d dirty political 
work to do have sought to stain the memory of the 
founder of the Modern School. . . . Oite story is tha? 
Mme. terrer, who was a devout Catholic, left her hus- 
band because she could not longer identify herself with 
a man who was an avowed Freethinker; another, that 
the sympathetic regard entertained for her teacher by 
M le. Meunier irritated Mme. Ferrer and led to scenes 
between husband and wife; still another, that she tried 
to kill him with a pistol, and that he refused to take any 
legal action. None of these tales can affect Ferrer's 
reputation. We do know that he and his wife separated 
according to the French law-for divorce is forbidden in 
bpain. And we recall that at the time of the Morral 
proceedings, in 1907, she desired to testify in favor of 
her former husband, 



His Life and Work. 13 

FERRER AND MADEMOISELLE MEUNIER 

Translated From the French of G. Normandy and 
E, Lesueur By Helen Tufts Bailie. 

M MEUNIER pere was a modern incarnation of 
one of those bourgeois heroes dear to the pen 
• of Balzac. This worthy contractor had by his 
energy and thrift accumulated a fortune in the building 
trade during the improvement of the city of Paris under 
Napoleon HI. To the day of his death this man's wife 
and his daughter— who was to become Ferrer's pupil- 
were completely ignorant of the amount of his fortune. 
They lived very frugally, Mme. Meunier doing the cook- 
ing and Mile. Meunier attending to household duties. 
When M. Meunier's will was opened the astonished 
women found that they had inherited over 3,000,000 
francs ($600,000). 

Mile. Ernestine Meunier loved music and the modern 
languages. Both she and her mother had cherished long- 
ings to travel. From her childhood the daughter had 
dreamed of Italy and of Spain. These tastes she could 
now satisfy. 

Mother and daughter rented apartments in the Rue 
Ventadour. The walls were covered with the portraits 
of great Italian composers. A harp and two pianos stood 
ready to the hand of Mile. Meunier, who became a tal- 
ented virtuoso and an excellent linguist, and also, to 
make the description complete, a pious dispenser of 
charity. 

Constant residence in Paris became monotonous. They 
had ventured timidly upon innovations in their mode of 
living; it was their longing to travel that shook them 
out of the rut. One day they left for Italy. 

It was while they were staying in Milan that they 
heard of the outrage in the Rue des Bons-Enfants by the 
bomb-thrower Henry. This incident and the general 
perturbation reported by the daily newspapers had such 
an effect upon them that they determined to remain m 
Italy for an indefinite time, the charm of their surround- 
ings holding them so effectually that they invested in 
real estate there. They already owned a great deal- 
one lot, it may be noted in passing, being the land then 
occupied by the Eden Theatre. 



14 Francisco Ferrer, 

the meeting with m. coppola. 

During: these travels an adventure befell them — only 
one, but it lasted a long time. They became acquainted 
with M. Coppola, an excellent man, on whom fortune 
had not smiled, yet who, with his courageous wife, smiled 
cheerily out upon the world from the little shop where 
they sold souvenirs and postcards. What was more 
natural than that the Coppolas should gossip with their- 
customers? Mme. and M. Coppola became so intimate 
with Mile, and J\Ime. Meunier that the two French trav- 
elers, won by the many good qualities of these Italian 
shopkeepers, soon put honest M. Coppola in charge of 
the estate they had recently acquired in Milan. Mme. 
Meunier was so well satisfied with the way in which 
her agent performed his services that she asked him 
to take over the management of the whole property 
belonging to herself and her daughter. 

M. Coppola took to the task very seriously. lie 
possessed the full confidence of the two ladies, and 
he fulfilled his new duties with rare prudence and 
sagacity. Hitherto, the harshness of his lot had failed 
to accord him the opportunity to reveal the talents 
which his noble face and dome-like forehead pro- 
claimed him to possess. 

DEATH OF MADAME MEUNIER. 

Mme. Meunier died. The daughter, in part carry- 
ing out her mother's last wishes, and in part only too 
glad in her unworldliness to be able to rely upon the 
services of M. Coppola, begged the latter to continue 
in the management and administration of her prop- 
erty. But her enthusiasms, both artistic and religious; 
the noble longings of a timid and reserved woman, 
her natural generosity, her pious charity, her love for 
travel and for costly trifles, sometimes led her into 
such extravagance that M. Coppola, ever sensible of 
his duty, had to remonstrate with her to prevent the 
partial destruction of the fortune accumulated by M. 
Meunier and till then carefully preserved intact. 

Mile. Ernestine, appreciating the wisdom of his 
reproofs — which had to be repeated over and over — 
but quite unable to curb her impetuosity, felt that she 



His Life and Work. 15 

must have at command an independent capital. With- 
out the knowledge of M. Coppola she sold to a reli- 
gious body some building lots then lying idle which 
she owned in Paris. This brought her a capital of 
about 75,000 francs, which she immediately converted 
into railroad bonds, purposing to use them as she 
pleased and without incurring reproof — as she had a 
perfect right to do. 

Meanwhile she was beginning to age. She had had 
more than one proposal of marriage, but she was con- 
tent with her comfortable albeit unpretentious mode 
of life and, ever fearful that she was sought for her 
wealth rather than for love, she repulsed all suitors. 
She died unmarried, but unfettered and highly re- 
spected, as happy as a lonely woman could be. 

When Italy, which she came to know so well, began 
to lose interest, she turned to Spain — that chosen land 
of Catholicism and of art — and so looked about for a 
Spanish teacher able to instruct her not only in the 
language, which she already knew quite well, but 
more particularly in the literature, the art, and the 
point of view of the land beyond the Pyrenees. She 
engaged Ferrer. 

THE FRIENDSHIP BETWEEN FERRER AND MLLE. MEUNIER. 

It was a long time before the natural reserve be- 
tween teacher and pupil melted, but as the years 
passed a friendship sprang up between Mile. Meunier 
and her teacher. She was at that time fifty-four years 
old. Though she had never been able to overcome 
the defects of her early training, nor entirely to cast 
off the beliefs of her youth, as a mature woman she 
was capable of admiring Ferrer and what he stood 
for. During the conversations they had together, 
Ferrer opened up new prospects to the marvelling soul 
of this excellent lady. She was a Catholic when she 
asked the founder of the Modern School to give her 
lessons, yet she was a person of independent views, 
for, in spite of her religion, she was not opposed to 
Dreyfus, whose case was then filling all minds, and 
the day she finished Zola's "Labor" she espoused the 
cause of Dreyfus with that headlong sincerity which 



i6 Francisco Ferrer, 

was one of the leading traits in her character. Having 
once taken this stand, which suited perfectly with her 
aspirations toward the pure and the beautiful, she 
did not stop. 

Frequently she questioned her teacher about the 
future of Spain. Ferrer, ever faithful to his ideals of 
education emancipated from clericalism, laid before 
her his own views upon the possible regeneration of 
his unhappy country through methods of popular in- 
struction in accordance with modern thought. No 
one who heard him can fail to recollect the noble pas- 
sion with which he unfolded his plans — for whose 
triumph he has shed his blood — nor the enthusiasm 
which possessed him as he predicted the possible and 
probable results. His constant desire being to found 
schools in Spain conforming to his ideas, he naturally 
spoke of this in his talks with Mile. Meunier, — as, indeed, 
he spoke of it perpetually to every one he met. One day 
his pupil inquired : "To carry out your great idea, M. 
Ferrer, what sum do you think it would require?" To 
which Ferrer replied, word for word : "I think that 
with 12,000 francs a year a model school could be 
established." And the subject was dropped. 

Some time after Mile. Meunier told Ferrer, with a 
kindly smile, that she had just made provision for the 
future of his educational projects by the addition of 
a new clause to her will — that she had left him for 
life an amount which would yield an income of 12,000 
francs. This was glorious news indeed to Ferrer. 

DEATH OF MLLE. MEUNIER. 

Several years passed. In 1901, during a sojourn 
in the Riviera, at Nice, and at Mentone, Mile. Meunier 
was attacked with influenza. She was hurried back 
to Paris in a very dangerous condition, and died on 
the 2nd of April. 

Then occurred two events, the first of a somewhat 
comical nature. A horde of relatives more or less dis- 
tantly connected rose up from every quarter and, 
after a decent show of mourning, proceeded to claim 
the property of this kind and wealthy kinswoman. 



His Life and Work. 17 

The opening of the will,* which took place on the 
nth of April, 1901, soon disillusioned them all, not- 
withstanding the sudden resurrection of family senti- 
ment and the apparent sincerity of their grief. Mile. 
Ernestine Meunier left her fortune deliberately to in- 
dividuals entirely outside her kindred. Among other 
bequests, whereby she testified her passion for music, 
she left a sum for the annual purchase of a harp to be 
awarded by the Conservatoire to the winner of the 
first prize in the contests at the end of the year. The 
one who inherited most was naturally the worthy M. 
Coppola. Mile. Meunier's was certainly a royal rec- 
ognition of valued services. The honest manager de- 
clared himself quite satisfied. Nevertheless, he was 
far less satisfied when he learned, with an astonish- 
ment equal to Ferrer's, that instead of bequeathing to 
the latter the promised life income of 12,000 francs. 
Mile. Meunier, by a change in her will unknown to 
any one, had left her teacher the entire interest in a 
Maison de Rapport, in Paris, No. 11, Rue des Petits- 
Ecuries. This property yielded 36,000 francs annu- 
ally. To Ferrer this was a sudden, overwhelming 
good fortune. But it was the Modern School that 
profited by it, rather than its founder. 

M. Coppola, as might be expected of a business 
man who knew the value of money and the reprehen- 
sible extravagance of theorists, at once undertook to 
assume control of Francisco Ferrer's inheritance. He 
very quickly discovered that he had exceeded his 
rights as administrator and heir, and readily yielded 
when he found that Mile. Meunier had shrewdly in- 
serted a codicil to the effect that every beneficiary who 
attacked her will would be disinherited. So M. Cop- 
pola returned to Milan, laden with his good fortune, 
and there he lives in peace and comfort, the due re- 
ward of an energetic, conscientious and honest career. 

As to Ferrer, he went back to Barcelona and organ- 
ized his Modern Schools. 



* This will, written by herself, in French, in a fine, clear hand, 
covers three sheets of commercial note-paper. It is dated Jan- 
uary 21, 1901. It is filed with the deeds of the Notary, Giacomo 
Galii, in the Registry of Deeds at Milan. 



i8 Francisco Ferrer, 

SOME SIDE-LIGHTS ON FERRER'S 
PERSONALITY 

By William IIeaford. 

Little is known, except to a limited few, of the per- 
sonality of Ferrer, apart from his work as seen in the 
full blaze of publicity during a brief period of three 
and a half years. During that period, dating from 
May 31, 1906, to October 13, 1909, he sufifered fifteen 
months of detention in prison, with death by torture, 
garotte, or shooting hourly awaiting him; he passed 
through a civil and a military trial for his life; he saw 
the seizure of his fortune, the wanton destruction of 
his private estate, the exile and banishment of his col- 
leagues, relatives, and dear ones ; and after physical 
and mental tortures, which alone constituted a pnv- 
gatory of agony, passed from his vermin-haunted cell 
amid the scowls of exultant priests to that moat at 
Montjuich which, for countless generations, will be 
remembered as the place where the first martyr of 
Freethought in the twentieth century sacrificed his 
life for the cause of Rationalist teaching. 

The materials for sketching the outlines of Ferrer's 
personality, as it unfolded itself long before the public 
with a big "P" knew of the work and worth of the man, 
are not at present as ample as could be desired. Those 
who can tell us most of Ferrer as he was in the early 
days are either to-day in the grip of a great bereave- 
ment, or reticent for fear of creating a new idol for 
the worship of the curious many. 

"1 CANNOT CONCEIVE LIFE WITHOUT PROPAGANDA." 

Those who, like ourselves, wish to lift the veil that 
hides in large measure the personality of Ferrer should 
read the article, dated June 15, 1906, written by 
Ferrer himself during his incarceration at the Carcel 
Modelo at Madrid, and published the next day in 
Espafia Nitcva. In that most interesting chapter of 
autobiography, the full text of which is before me as 
I write, he tells us that, having been compromised in 
the rising at Santa Coloma de Fames, but still more 
on account of his conjugal difficulties (on which I shall 



His Life and Work. 19 

presently have new light to shed), he voluntarily 
emigrated to Paris in 1885, in which city, thanks to 
the recommendations of D. Manuel Ruiz Zorrilla, he 
lived as a marchand de vins until the end of 1889. 
"Having," he says, "more taste for intellectual ques- 
tions than for commercial matters, I began to give 
lessons in the Castelan, congratulating myself on my 
change of profession," which, as he states, was more 
congenial to his tastes. "I cannot conceive life with- 
out propaganda. Wherever I go, in the street, in 
places of business, in tramways, in the train, with 
whomsoever comes my way, I have need of propa- 
gating something. I have exposed myself to rebuffs, 
and have received them sometimes ; but I cannot help 
that — that is to say, I do not want to help it. I 
prefer to appear indiscreet rather than refrain from a 
word or an observation which I would consider useful 
in order to get people into habits of reflection." 

MADEMOISELLE MEUNIER. 

In this article Ferrer tells us the romantic story of 
his relations with one of his pupils, a Catholic lady. 
Mademoiselle Meunier. As she was convinced of 
Christianity even to the point of fanaticism, Ferrer 
deferred speaking to her of religion for more than a 
year. Thanks to the confidence which his society in- 
spired, and to a certain affinity of tastes on questions 
of art, travel, and manners generally, he was able at 
last to seize the opportunity so much desired of 
broaching the religious question. 

As the fortress of conviction which he desired to 
capture was formidable (as far as possible I am 
throughout putting into the third person Ferrer's own 
personal narrative), he could not undertake the assault 
alone. He accordingly called Volney to his aid, whose 
"Ruins of Palmyra" he placed in her hands for reading. 
"Naturally such a book made a breach in the defence, 
as was only to be expected of any person who, though 
being a fanatic, was so in good faith." 

Such was his anxiety to propagate scientific ideas 
that when Malvert's work, "Science et Religion," ap- 
peared in France he paid out of his own savings for 
the rights of translation, and committed to his friend 



20 Francisco Ferrer, t 

Nakens the translating and publishing of the work in 
Spanish. The first copy of the work, when received 
from Madrid, was intended for his pupil, already less 
fanatic than before, but far from being immune from 
the influence of bigotry, even after reading such a 
book. This was proved when, a few days after- 
wards, he received a letter reproaching him for his 
gift, and terminating his engagement. Shortly after- 
wards, however, she resumed her lessons, but re- 
quested that religion should be tabooed. To this con- 
dition he acceded; but (Ferrer adds) "few lessons 
were given without the disputatious question pre- 
senting itself again on the tapis." 

At that time, as we shall see later on, Ferrer was a 
convinced Dreyfusard, active in defending the cause of 
this earlier victim of the Church. As he says : "I lost 
pupils, and created enmities. But was there a house 
where fathers and sons and brothers were not in conflict?" 
He finally conquered not only Mademoiselle Meuner's 
hatred of Dreyfus, but most of her lifelong convictions 
as to religion, except that "from fear" she was unable to 
relinquish the idea of the world beyond the grave, the 
other life, the soul, and God. 

Shortly after this change occurred she wished to pay a 
visit to Spain in Ferrer's company. With another lady 
serving as travelling companion, the three were soon en 
route for Barcelona, Madrid, Andalucia, etc. The lessons 
between pupil and professor continued, and so year after 
year did the pleasure trips during the vacations. We 
learn that they went once to Portugal and once to Eng- 
land. The final journey was to Italy and Spain, where, 
on August 24, 1900, he told her that he had no desire to 
continue living this selfish kind of life, with no higher 
aim than that of giving mutual satisfaction, "there being 
so much to do for the benefit of ignorant and suffering 
humanity. She quite concurred, and offered to do what- 
ever might be proposed." 

AT THE CRADLE OF THE ESCUELA MODERNA. 

It appears that during these travelling days he had 
expounded to her his plan of "education based solely on 
the natural sciences, by means of which the true origin 
of all things may be explained to the child and the young 



His Life and Work. 21 

man." The result was that she approved his plan, and 
"placed at my disposal the money necessary for such a 
venture." These material resources were secured to 
Ferrer by certain dispositions in his favor made in her 
will. The final paragraph of this glimpse into Ferrer's 
soul is worth recording : 

"What will be most surprising is to know that between 
the two of us there was nothing more than profound 
fraternal friendship, based purely on personal sympathy 
and similitude in our humanitarian sentiments. Not even 
on New Year's Day did we bestow a kiss on each other — 
and that in France where people who most detest each 
other will on that day exchange kisses. Strange though 
this may appear, it is pure truth-, and this fact gives me 
the more strength to exalt and magnify the principles 
that the Escuela Moderna represents : the preparation for 
a free and happy humanity, without wars, or other col- 
lective or personal dissensions." 

Here, apart from the philosopher and the educationalist, 
we can see the fervid idealist, the active propagandist, 
fired with enthusiasm for a cause already living in embryo 
in his brain. No doubt, as he said, he created enemies ; 
but a man of that type is equally certain to gain — as we 
know Ferrer did gain — an ever-widening circle of friends 
and admirers. 

Those were the days when the springs of his greatness 
ran in unobserved channels. For that reason the student 
has to dig and delve in scattered regions for the materials 
for forming an all-round estimate of Ferrer's character. 
I have been fortunate enough to read two of the earliest 
and most important of Ferrer's letters, as preserved for 
us in an Italian translation, which appeared in La Ra- 
gione. These letters are addressed to Mario Gibelli, and 
belong to a period (1898) anterior to the foundation of 
the Escuela Moderna. For that reason they shed new 
and unsuspected light upon his opinions at that date on 
the sexual relationship. He writes thus : 

"I am not yet married, because it is not possible for me 
to get a divorce in any country. For all that, my wife 
and I remain friends and wait." 



22 Francisco Ferrer^ 

the dreyfus case. 

In the same letter Ferrer refers to the Dreyfus ca?c, 
which was then stirring France to its depths, and naturally 
Ferrer's sympathies were with the victim of the Church : 

"Don't talk to me about what is happening to-day in 
France ! What a tragic teaching it is for us ! What a 
wonderful opportunity for the study of the human soul. 
Do you remember still all the bad things I told you one 
day about the Jesuits in particular and of all the religions 
in general, without, however, omitting mention of the big 
part of responsibility belonging to the governments? At 
this moment everything I told you is being verified. Yes, 
iny dear friend, Captain Dreyfus is innocent — take my 
word for it, if you still entertain any doubt on the subject. 
But the great majority of French people, whose eternal 
destiny it would seem to be to wax mad always about 
something — either about God, or for country, or for the 
army — are not yet able to regain their tranquillity and 
become reasonable. I have frequent and animated dis- 
cussions with them, but it is like hammering cold iron. 
However, I do not doubt that the truth will ultimately 
triumph even if, at the outset, torrents of blood may flow. 
At the beginning the generous souls, the innocent, and 
the just will sufifer — it matters not ; sooner or later reason 
must triumph." 

This firm faith in the vindication of truth, this radical, 
essential optimism of Ferrer's character, never deserted 
him even when the prison gates had claimed him as victim 
and death stood visibly before his eyes. 

THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR. 

The other letter was written shortly after the preced- 
ing, while he was journeying over the ocean to Australia, 
with his two little girls, on a visit to his brother Jose. 
The Dreyfus question and his unsatisfied desire for 
divorce still form in part the subject-matter of his 
thoughts. He was apparently anxious for Gibelli's 
opinion as to remarrying. He stated : *T have not suc- 
ceeded in remarrying because, as a Spaniard, divorce is 
an impossible release for me. I am going forward with 
my present bonds, and must wait." But apparently the 
chief question which preoccupied his mind was the His- 



His Life and Work. 23 

pano-American war. According to the letter, as trans- 
lated Ferrer states that for two years then passed he 
had i3een working with all his might with the intention 
of putting an end to the war with Cuba : 

"When the last 60,000 soldiers had been embarked for 
Cuba, I had proposed the proclamation of the Republic 
in Spain and the concession to the Cubans of a very large 
measure of autonomy not differing much from complete 
independence. The great mass of the Republicans had 
decided to support my project; but the chiefs— those 
dreadful chiefs— had no desire to compromise themselves. 
I wasted more than two months in Spain in the hope 
that some great event would happen, but have had to 
leave the country disheartened. The Jesuits have thus 
rendered themselves undisputed masters of our unhappy 
country." 

These letters belong to the final years of the revolution- 
ary stage of Ferrer's life preliminary to the final definitive 
period into which his educational experiences soon 
ushered him when, as Naquet tells us, Ferrer had "ar- 
rived at the conclusion that the employment of violence 
is useless; that, despite its^ apparent swiftness, it is the 
slowest method in the end." 

Ferrer's view of education. 
Ferrer never swerved from his firm faith in the cura- 
tive social efficacy of education as soon as that idea once 
rooted itself in his mind. In a letter to Mademoiselle 
Henriette Meyer, dated May 11, 1902, an exact repro- 
duction of which, in the (to me) familiar handwriting of 
Ferrer, is preserved in the invaluable work cited below, 

"It seems to me that to labor at this moment for the 
abolition of capital punishment or for the general strike 
without knowing how we shall train up our children is 
to begin at the wrong end of the stick and waste time. 

HOW FAR FERRER W^^S AN ANARCHIST. 

In the light of documents and declarations like the 
foregoing, it is preposterous to speak of Ferrer as a. 
firebrand and an incendiary. Unfortunately, there is 
much mischievous confusion and delusion abroad— both 
among Ferrer's friends and foes, but especially and natu- 



24 Francisco Ferrer^ 

rally among his foes — concerning Ferrer's connection 
with Anarchism. By his foes, it seems to be imagined 
that it suffices to call a man an Anarchist to leave him 
to the tender mercies of the base, brutal, and bloody. 
Luckily, I am in a position to render this service to Fer- 
rer's name and fame — that I can produce his own author- 
itative "profession of faith," in which it is made perfectly 
clear, first, that he in his later years — in all the years of 
his educational activities — had abandoned revolutionary 
I)ropaganda, and, secondly, that he was totally opposed, 
in principle and in action, to the doctrine of demolition 
by dynamite and brute force. 

Let me, therefore, conclude this paper with a reference 
to an article by Ferrer himself in Espdna Nueva of 
November 14, 1906 (a copy of which is before me as I 
write), entitled "Profession of Faith," in order to render 
it inexcusable for friend or foe hereafter to say, or pre- 
tend, that Ferrer . . . favored the blood-spilling, prop- 
erty-destroying doctrines which arc commonly ascribed 
to Anarchism. Ferrer says : 

"All the labor of the prosecution [he is, of course, re- 
ferring to the 1906 prosecution] has been spent on the 
task of ascertaining whether or no I am an Anarchist? 

"For what reason. What is the motive underlying the 
inquiry whether or no I am an Anarchist? 

"Do they, perhaps, think that the work of the Fscuela 
Moderna would be prejudiced if it should appear that its 
founder is an Anarchist ? 

"I made this matter very clear on the day of my arrival 
at Madrid, during the course of my first examination, on 
June 6, 1906, when I said : *I detest all party names, 
from Anarchist to Carlist, because all of them are ob- 
stacles to the educative work undertaken by the Escuela 
Moderna.' 

"Experience has taught me that even as religion divides 
mankind into sects which hate each other, which fight be- 
tween themselves, provoking war and making impossible 
the reign of peace between mankind, so the names with 
which individuals fighting in the ranks of political parties 
brand each other are the cause of division, of hatred, and 
bloodthirsty wars. 

"How many times have I seen men holding the same 
ideas warring in a different party camp ! 



His Life and Work. 25 

"How often have I seen people together in the same 
party who, nevertheless, differed completely in their po- 
litical and social appreciations ! 

"The point on which there never has been discord, so 
far as concerns the people that I have met, is this, that 
society is badly organized ; that it is necessary to find a 
remedy for the evil from which it suffers ; and it is agreed 
that there is a more or less ardent desire to contribute 
towards its amelioration, 

"Every cultivated person of my acquaintance has 
agreed with me as to the best means to be employed in 
order to make men and create strong and good types of 
humanity, and of these means education and instruction 
were those most a propos. 

"Being convinced of the foregoing principles, I ceased 
to fight in any political party after the death of the chief 
of the Progressist Republican party, in order to dedicate 
all my activity to education, the only solid basis of human 
regeneration, according to my humble opinion. 

"I have always denied before the Magistrate that I was 
an Anarchist. I made this denial because the idea formed 
here of an Anarchist is that of a being hungry for blood, 
the enemy of humanity, and a partisan of evil by means 
of evil — and I am none of these things. 

"On the contrary, I detest the shedding of blood; I 
labor for the regeneration of humanity, and I love the 
good for the good's own sake. 

"But if people choose to classify me as an Anarchist 
because they have read a phrase of mine in which I have 
spoken of ideas of demolition in men's brains, I will reply 
that there — there ! in the collection of books and 'Bole- 
tines' published by the Escuela Moderna — will, indeed, be 
found ideas of demolition. But, understand clearly, these 
are only ideas of demolition in men's brains — that is to 
say, the introduction into the brain of the rational and sci- 
entific spirit for the demolition of all prejudice. Does 
this mean being an Anarchist? If this be so, I declare 
at the outset that I never knew it ; but that, in this case, 
I should be an Anarchist insofar as Anarchism adopts 
my ideas of education, of peace, and love, but not to the 
extent that I would have adopted any of its particular 
proceedings. . . . 

"It is, moreover, absurd to suppose that, holding the 



26 Francisco Ferrer, 

faith I hold in the fruits of education in achieving the 
emancipation of the conscience — a work to which I dedi- 
cate my fortune, my time, and my whole life — I could 
dedicate myself to any other task. I am a man full of 
passion. Wherever I place myself, I put the whole of my 
being — and I give it all to educational work for the peo- 
ple, because it is from education that I hope everything." 
This singular document, in accord with all we know of 
the opinions of Ferrer in every accessible writing to 
which his hand and heart were set — this manifesto in 
which the whole soul of Ferrer cried out its passionate 
paean of praise of education — is dated from the Carcel 
Modelo, at Madrid, November, 1906. But it is more 
than a "profession of faith" ; it is a revelation of the 
man in all his unquenchable idealism, his enthusiastic 
optimism, and his boundless faith in human nature. — 
I'rom the London Literary Guide. 

^ tfi ♦,li 

THE BEST BOOKS ON FERRER 

In English: 
The Martyrdom of I^'errer. By Joseph McCabe. Watts 
& Company, London. Handled in America by E. C. 
Walker, 244 West 143d Street, New York. 

In Yiddish: 
Francisco Ferrer, His Life and Work. By Rudolf 
Rocker. The Worker's Friend Group, 163 Jubilee 
Street, London, East. 

In German: 
Francisco Ferrer, Sein Leben und Wirken. By 
Pierre Ramus. Klosterneuburg b. Wicn, Kierlinger- 
strasse 183 (Niederosterreich). 

In French: 

Ferrer, L'HoxMME et Son Oeuvre. By G. Normandy 
and E. Lesueur. A. Mericant, Paris. 

Un Martyr des Pretres; Francisco Ferrer. Schlei- 
cher, Paris. 

Pour la Revision du Proces Ferrer. By Jean Jacques 
Kaspar, avocat a la Cour de Paris. Schleicher, 
Paris. 

L'Affaire Ferrer devant la Conscience Universelle. 
By A. Juve de Buloix. 4 Rue Cassette, Paris. 



His Life and Work. 27 

THE SOCIAL STRUGGLE IN SPAIN 

By Hippolyte Havel. 
I ^iSJ^ "^■'"-'ortal Xaprichos" the celebrated Goya has 
1 h rula" ""-n^assed characterization of the'span- 
nn.i f" 7^^^^'- -bold attacks against the whole political 
and social order, especially against royalty severe ar 
1 gnment of the ruling clericalisn., hyp'ocritcaT religion 

p4 taft'^anf '■ '''''':■'■'' ^?^^"^ °'^^^^ Inquisition 
priestcraft, and superstition; biting satire of the court 

nobih y, and ministry characterize^he great work-in 

n an?L^'"r""" "r' ^?^''''''' i^^"^ a^IternaLg with 
phantastic dreams. In this work the artist is submerged 

rJlSu^iJl^^L^^f -^'^-^ °^--r of his social ani 

tothrworld^''vSf h'"^ t'' ^°>'^ ^'' ^^^^^" Xaprichos" 
chancer Tt; J^ V' .'^'5'"^'^"' °^ ^P^"'^'^ '""1^ l^^s not 
c anged Its spirit is to-day as brutal, bloodthirstv and 

"etda'nts'of'T" ' '"".'^^' ^'^ ^^- The mode'n. de- 
scendants of Torquemada rule not only Spain but the 
whole Catholic world; one of them, Merry del vll is 

Soirie'^Vir ''' "^T'' f^'^'^^y' ^he Policies'^f^'th 
noly See The proverb 3- d Roma por todos ({0 Rome 

%'r^^?^l''^^ JPP^^^^ "^ '''' f"" significance 

Notwithstanding, the world moves. While cler cal do 

mmion did not change, the life of the Spanish peoDle 

oTritunf^'Tr ' tremendous transformation, a ^g?ea? 

spiritual evolution, so much indeed, that to-day we are 

deteTSio^^S^ '''\^'^ f- emancipation '.^h"S ?i 
Rm.i^ Ini S '•""'^u''^^^' ^^"^^ s^^e in Russia. 
Russia and Spam— the farthest North and South 

What contrast, and yet what striking similarity h° the 

same't m'e' "T! '^^^^'^^^"^ °^ ^^^ '^^ -^-- At he 
countrS ' ^^"°''"'' '^'^^^ ^" ^^g^^^ ^° both 

To the superficial observer modern Spain is like New 
Russia, /.rra incognita. The average man o to dav 
knows Spam only as the land of Inquisition and buH 
worM' ' ?""'f^ ^^^^^^ °"^^ "^^^^d had maste ed t e 

r^'atfsts iL'VIm'' ""'"''V^' ^^^^^^^^^^ -^d Murillo 
aramatists like Calderon and Lope de Yega as the im 

HnH v"w'i°^^°" Quixote de la M^nch^ a 
land which to-day is on the road to complete decay. ^Such 



28 Francisco Ferrer^ 

works as George Borrow's "Bible in Spain" — a pitiful 
.translation of a drama by Jose Echegaray — or the exhi- 
bition of Ignazio Zuloaga, more French than Spanish, 
and perhaps the latest novel of Maurice Hewlett are 
about the sole sources of information of the ordinary 
man. He is entirely unaware of the tremendous struggle 
carried on in the Iberian peninsula, during the last half 
century, between the feudal powers and the legions of 
modernity; that the struggle has given birth to great 
thinkers, brilliant writers, and powerful organizers ; that 
in the last decades thousands of revolutionists have 
bravely held aloft the banner of progress, and that in- 
numerable martyrs have laid down their lives on the altar 
of humanity, and that, finally, Catalonia is the centre of 
the most intelligent and revolutionary proletariat of 
Europe — all this is quite unknown this side of the 
Pyrenees. 

If we acquaint ourselves, however, with the views on 
modern Spain expressed by well-known investigators, 
literateurs, and revolutionists like Havelock Ellis, Tarrida 
del Marmol, Bart Kennedy, Enrico Malatesta, Charles 
Malato, and others who have personally studied the life 
and customs of the Spanish people, we shall behold a 
picture that must fill one with respect and admiration for 
the intellectual and revolutionary aspirations of the men 
and women of that underestimated nation, 

* * * 

No previous economic system has understood so well 
as capitalism to identify itself with the existing political 
form of a given country. In republican America it allies 
itself with corrupt politics ; in autocratic Russia with 
Tsarism ; in militaristic Germany with the aristocracy ; in 
Spain with clericalism. 

The Socialist movement in Spain, in its essential mod- 
ern form, dates from the time of the old Internationale. 
Yet even prior to that period Spain possessed a Socialist 
movement. The workingmen of Catalonia had already 
in the 50's of the last century an organization numbering 
ninety thousand members. At the forcible dissolution of 
the organization by General Zapatero, in 1855, about fifty 
thousand workmen quit their factories, thus initiating the 
first General Strike in Europe. 

In no countrv did the Internationale gain a firmer foot- 



His Life and Work. 29 

hold than in Spain, where all the members of this revo- 
lutionary body held Anarchist views. The social upris- 
ings of the 70's, in which Michael Bakunin played such 
a prominent part, are a matter of history. 

With the spread of the revolutionary labor movement, 
repression on the part of the masters grew ever more 
inhumane and tyrannous in proportion to the greater 
energy displayed in the war against the capitalist regime. 
The names of Mano Negra, Alcala del Voile, and Mont- 
juich are written in letters of fire in the martyrology of 
the Spanish proletariat. 

Now, what happened in the summer of 1909 in Bar- 
celona ? The international stock gamblers were preparing 
for new pillage, namely in the Riff district, situated in 
the Spanish sphere of influence in Morocco. The natives 
resisted, rising in the defence of their fatherland. The 
camarilla in Madrid, participant in the intended capitalist 
robbery, arranged a campaign against the rebellious na- 
tives. Mobilization orders called out the reservists, con- 
sisting exclusively of workingmen and poor peasants un- 
able to buy their freedom from active military service, 
as do the sons of the rich. Not satisfied merely to exploit 
the people at home, the rulers of Spain were planning to 
use them as cannon fodder. Heartbreaking scenes were 
witnessed when the Catalonian reservists gathered in 
the port of Barcelona preparing to be shipped to Africa. 
Old parents sobbed for their luckless children about to 
be sent to certain death ; women cried over the loss of 
their husbands, and poor children faced the miserable 
fate of poor orphans. Many reservists refused to go 
aboard, and numerous riots followed. 

Witnessing these terrible scenes, the organized work- 
men of Barcelona became aroused. They decided to do 
what the so-called friends of peace a la Carnegie failed 
to do, too mindful of their financial interests. The Soli- 
daridad O brer a, the revolutionary federation of the trade 
unions of Barcelona, called a special meeting of its dele- 
gates to consider the situation, with a view of organizing 
a national protest against the war. The Governor of 
Barcelona prohibited the meeting. That happened on 
the 23d of July. Three days later a spontaneous General 
Strike broke out in Barcelona and other Catalonian cities. 
The industrial life of that large province suddenly came 



30 Francisco Ferrer^ 

to a standstill. The railroads ceased operations, and the 
postal and telegraph service was suspended. 

Had the Catalonian uprising received sufficient aid 
from the workers of the other provinces, the result would 
have been different. Unfortunately, however, the labor 
bodies of those districts are under the influence of par- 
liamentary Socialists, who lacked the courage to advise 
their followers to join the General Strike. Still, the real I 
purpose of that revolt was achieved. The government 
was paralyzed, and the embarkment of the troops could 
not take place at Barcelona. 

The rage of the authorities transcended all description. 
They bent all their energies to master the situation, em- 
ploying toward that end the usual governmental methods 
of slaughter. The result is well known. But though the 
popular uprising was thus mercilessly strangled, the Gen- 
eral Strike had achieved its aim : the mobilization of re- 
servists had to cease. 

The camarilla at Madrid could not forgive the Cata- 
lonians this significant defeat. It thirsted for revenge. 
The terrible scenes that followed the Paris Commune 
were now to be repeated in Spain. About fifteen thou- 
sand persons — men, women, and children — were arrested 
in Barcelona, Mataro, Manresa, Sabadell, Gerone, and 
Angles ; among the prisoners were the most prominent 
labor leaders and many veterans of the revolutionary 
movement, like Anselmo Lorenzo, Christobal Litran, as 
well as Francisco Ferrer, the founder of Escuclas Mo- 

dcrnas. 

* * * 

No other country, except possibly Russia, possesses a 
greater percentage of illiteracy than Spain. Among its 
seventeen million inhabitants only five milion are able to 
read or write. In most of the government schools priests 
and nuns are the instructors ; the lay teachers are sworn 
to defend and support the Catholic Church. The first 
attempt to broaden the scope of popular education was 
made in the 70's of the last century by the free-thinkers 
and republicans. They organized a number of secular 
schools in various parts of Spain — chiefly in Catalonia — 
financing them in spite of their poverty and in the face of 
of great opposition and persecution. In 1883 these 
schools became federated into one organization, under 



His Life and Work. 31 

the general supervision of Bartolomeo Gabarro, a former 
priest. But the new body failed to surmount the difficul- 
ties of the situation, with the result that it soon became 
disintegrated, owing to governmental persecution on the 
one hand, lack of means and proper methods of instruc- 
tion, on the other. 

The factor which brought new life into the educational 
movement of Spain was Francisco Ferrer. . . . — From 
Mother Earth. 

)t' «r' «i 

THE HISTORY OF THE MODERN SCHOOLS 

By William Heaford. 

FROM its own point of view — that of the bigot mor- 
bidly afraid of Freethought — the Spanish Govern- 
ment was guided by a sure instinct in attempcing 
to suppress the schools founded by Francisco Ferrer. The 
Escuela Moderna sprang Minerva-like from the fertile 
brain of one man, and the destruction of that man — by 
fair means or foul — would preserve intact the faith of 
Catholic Spain, at least for another generation. But 
the work initiated by Ferrer had rooted itself in the 
very fibres of the Spanish democracy, and its activities 
had become an invaluable asset of Freethought in its 
wider international implications. It thus happened that 
the prosecution of Ferrer ministered to the success of 
the pedagogic purposes which the founder of the Escuela 
Moderna had in view. From the Carcel Modelo itself, 
where already he had been incarcerated for more than 
seven months, Ferrer, with absolute indifference to his 
fate, but watchful of the interests of the schools, wrote 
to me in the following terms : "Everybody thinks I am 
bound to be acquitted, but Becerra del Toro (the Public 
Prosecutor) declares that he wants my head, because he 
believes I must have been acquainted with Morral's in- 
tentions. Who can say which will conquer : the truth 
or Becerra del Toro with his Jesuits? In the meantime 
I do not complain, because the longer I remain in prison 
the stronger will grow the movement in favor of the 
Escuela Moderna; and I prefer that it should be so." 
In the same letter (it is dated February 10, 1907) he 
told me that every day he was encouraged by receiving, 
fresh demands for professors, and renewed orders for 



32 Francisco Ferrer^ 

books, from the founders of the new schools everywhere 
springing into existence. Amid the educational darkness 
fostered by a bull-fighting, bigoted Government, Ferrer 
was a light shining in the darkness, and the darkness 
comprehended the necessity of extinguishing the new 
light. The bigots failed, and their failure revealed the 
sombre blackness of the school problem in Spain when 
left for settlement in the hands of a regime controlled by 
priests and wire-pulled by reactionaries. 

The horrible condition of affairs which Ferrer sought 
to remedy, and which called for the installation of happy, 
hygienic, and ethical centres of child-culture of the type 
of the Escuela Moderna, may be gathered from the ter- 
rifying picture which a Spanish educational organ, Le 
Esciicia Espanola, presents of the dilapidated and dis- 
graceful state of public education in Spain when aban- 
doned to priestly tutelage. It appears that in July, 1907, 
there were in S]:)ain 24,000 defective Governmental 
schools, "v/ithout light and without ventilation — dens of 
death, ignorance, and bad training." Every year fifty 
thousand children die, it is stated, from the diseases con- 
tracted in these non-hygienic schools, and 250,000 grow 
up injured in health owing to confinement in these cages. 
Besides this, 480,000 boys and girls wander about the 
streets without schooling and exposed to habits fatal to 
the child's best interests and those of the community. 
No less than 30,000 blind, consisting of children and 
young people, 37,000 deaf mutes, 67,000 sufferers from 
mental diseases, and 45,000 morally deformed either from 
physical or psychological causes, are living in the most 
absolute state of neglect for want of educational institu- 
tions for their treatment and relief. To worsen all this 
there are some 24,000 elementary schoolmasters so 
wretchedly ill-paid that in the majority of places their 
salaries are inferior to the earnings of an ordinary day 
laborer. The number of illiterates in Spain amounts to 
ten millions. Fiity thousand of the conscripts who an- 
nually swell the military ranks are unable to read or write. 
The contemplation of this picture fixed in Ferrer's mind 
the resolve to implant the Escuela Moderna as a chal- 
lenge and an example to a supine and superstitious Gov- 
ernment. How well he succeeded we shall presently see. 

The Escuela Moderna was started at Barcelona in Mav, 



His Life and Work. 33 

1901, It soon absorbed and remodelled a number of the 
schools established in Catalonia and elsewhere in Spain ; 
so that already in the fourth year of its existence forty 
schools have copied its methods and adopted its textbooks. 
At the same period its influence had begun to penetrate in 
other lands. For example, at San Paulo, in Brazil, at 
Lausanne (Switzerland), and at Amsterdam, the books 
published by Ferrer were adopted by the schools in those 
places started on the principles of the Escuela Moderna. 
When the cataclysm of May, 1906, occurred, about fifty 
schools were actually in existence. Owing to Govern- 
mental persecutions about a dozen of these institutions 
were suppressed, consisting principally of the weaker 
schools on Ferrer's list ; but newer and stronger institu- 
tions sprang, phoenix-like, from their ashes. One of the 
most notable of these was the Nueva Htimanidad at 
Valencia, founded during Ferrer's incarceration as the 
result of the enthusiastic labors of Professor Samuel 
Torner. The school, which in December, 1907, had 150 
scholars of both sexes and a list of forty fresh candidates 
for admission — since admitted on the installation of new 
and larger premises during the past year — was furnished 
with all the latest requisites of modern hygiene and peda- 
gogy. The school was enriched with an ample collection 
of specimens in botany, mineralogy, physiology, physics, 
etc., specially obtained from Paris ; and provision was 
made that each scholar should work at his or her separate 
desk. The system here, as in the other schools, was that 
of co-education of the sexes, and excellent results have 
been realized by the adoption of the system. At Valencia, 
as at Barcelona and elsewhere, the parents were partici- 
pants with their children in the beneficent work of educa- 
tion provided by the school ; courses of Sunday lectures 
by university professors on hygiene, and various other 
branches of science, being organized for both young and 
old. Furthermore, the experiment at Valencia induced 
twelve non-Governmental schools to bring themselves into 
line with the methods and principles of the school. Fur- 
ther, Professor Torner issued on behalf of the school a 
high-class illustrated monthly review of twelve full quarto 
pages, called after the school itself, Hmnanidad Nueva, 
which enjoys a circulation of 3,000 copies. 

I have before me a full list of about fifty schools dating 



34 Francisco Ferrer^ 

back six months prior to the prosecution. Later par- 
ticulars, furnished me by the late co-editor of the Boletin, 
Senor Colominas Maseras, indicate that some fifty addi- 
tional schools had already been founded up to February, 
1908, and that most of them were in a flourishing^ condi- 
tion. The statistics of ten schools alone in Barcelona 
show a school-roll of 1,000 pupils, in addition to the 
school at the Casa deJ Pueblo, with its 100 pupils, three 
professors, and modern equipment. 

In anticipation of a possibly renewed attempt upon the 
life of the Escuela Moderna and upon the very existence 
of Rationalist education in Spain, an "International 
League for Promoting; the Rationalist Education of Chil- 
dren" was formed, with Ferrer as its president and Pro- 
fessor Haeckel as one of its vice-presidents. The League 
had the support of a number of well-known Rationalists, 
including Prince Kropotkin, Professor Sergi, and Alfred 
Naquet. In order to widen the interest in Rationalist 
education the League issued a weekly eighteen-paged 
review (in French), edited by Ferrer himself — L'Ecole 
Renovcc. A special monthly edition was issued in Span- 
ish from Barcelona, and in Italy a review on similar lines 
in aid of the same general movement — La Scuola laica — 
was also published. The object of the League and of 
the foregoing reviews expressive of its principal aim 
was to discuss the general ideas concerning the physical, 
intellectual, and moral education of children on the lines 
indicated by modern science ; to study the child and the 
development of its faculties both from the physiological 
and psychological side ; and to elaborate a rational plan 
of education that shall seek to coordinate the physical 
and intellectual organization of the school. The Ecole 
Renovce was the international extension of the work of 
the Escuela Moderna of Barcelona, and national com- 
mittees for the purpose of implanting its principles in 
the school life of other lands are proposed to be formed. 
Already at Paris, Brussels, and Frankfurt national com- 
mittees have been launched, with a number of eminent 
educationalists and scientists at the head. Among these 
figures Professor Haeckel, who, in addition to his Vice- 
Presidentship of the International Committee, gladly ac- 
cepted the Presidentship of the German section formed 
at Frankfurt. The Escuela Moderna and the League 



His Life and Work. 35 

received support from a totally unexpected source — viz., 
from the authorities of the Independent Church in the 
Philippines. The Chief Bishop, writing to Ferrer from 
Manila, under date of March loth, 1909, states that, 
"having received the magnificent works" edited by the 
Escuela Moderna, "the Supreme Council of our Bishops, 
composed of twenty-four Prelates," and the Chief Bishop 
Gregorio Aglipay himself, has adopted some six or seven 
of its publications as text-books in the seminaries and 
schools controlled by the Church, merely "rectifying or 
explaining the atheistic or irreligious tendencies" of the 
works named. The full text of this remarkable letter is 
publishd in the B olefin for June i, 1909. Verily, Ferrer 
has not striven in vain. — From the London Literary 
Guide. >g 5Ji «? 

ELISEE RECLUS'S "MAN AND THE EARTH"- 

ONE OF THE GREAT TEXT-BOOKS OF THE 

MODERN SCHOOL 

ELISEE RECLUS has been described as the most 
generally respected Anarchist of the nineteenth 
century. He was admired by persons of all par- 
ties and all creeds. He lived a life so simple that it 
bordered on asceticism. He was a great scholar, and 
the master of a style which has been compared with that 
of the great naturalist, Buffon. 

His two masterpieces were "La Geographic Univer- 
selle," a colossal work of nineteen quarto volumes, and 
"L'Homme et la Terre" (Man and the Earth), a his- 
tory of man, of nations and of races from the beginning 
through the centuries. The latter work was selected by 
Ferrer for translation into Spanish, and was used by 
him, in abbreviated form, in the Modern School. 

"L'Homme et la Terre" consists of four grand divi- 
sions, four gigantic panels, so to speak, labelled respec- 
tively : I. Ancestors. II. Ancient History. III. Modern 
History. IV. Contemporaneous History. In the fourth 
of these divisions and, more particularly, in the last 
chapter, entitled "Progress," the author formulates his 
philosophy, which has been strengthened by the patient 
study, during half a century, of millions of facts. He 
expresses it in terms at once so large and so gentle that 



36 Francisco Ferrer, 

only the initiate will recognize therein the philosophy of 
Anarchism. In this chapter, he fuses, as it were, his works 
of pure scholarship with his works of propaganda, and 
harmonizes his ethnography with his humanitarian as- 
pirations. It is a confession of religion (using the term 
in a broad sense), a message of love and of cheer, couched 
in the language of reason, of concord and of pity, a 
veritable hymn of enlightened altruism, of hope and of 
fraternity. 

Elisee Reclus, with all his noble confidence in the future 
of humanity, is not dazzled by the showiness of modern 
life. He discerns clearly the seamy life of contempo- 
raneous civilization. Several epochs of the past, he 
points out, have produced individuals — geniuses — unsur- 
passed in modern times and in all likelihood unsurpass- 
able. Furthermore, in the history of humanity, several 
primitive tribes (styled "barbarous" because they were 
inferior to us in their intellectual comprehension) have 
approached closely the ideal of mutual help and mutual 
love. Simple in their social organization, naive in their 
general conception of the universe, they have achieved a 
state of serene justice, of well-being and of happiness far 
surpassing anything that has been achieved in the same 
line by the most advanced of our so-called civilized soci- 
eties. Our present vaunted civilization, Reclus argues, 
is merely a semi-civilization, because only a minority 
enjoy all its benefits. The development of industry has 
created a proletariat, the development of commerce has 
corrupted or exterminated whole races of aborigines. 
The modern laborers are totally devoid of personality; 
all have the same faces, livid from their youth up, the 
same stolid, expressionless gaze. The slums of our cities 
are more repulsive than anything to be found among the 
so-called savage tribes. Hundreds of thousands, millions 
probably, beg bread at the doors of churches and bar- 
racks. Accidents, diseases, deformities and congenital 
defects of every sort, complicated more often than not 
by the random application of bogus remedies, aggra- 
vated by poverty, by the lack of indispensable care, by 
the absence of gaiety and of hope, produce decrepitude 
long before the normal period of old age. The success 
of some involves the failure of others in contemporaneous 
society and in all the countries called civilized. The moral 



His Life and Work. 37 

abyss between the manner of life of the privileged and 
of the pariahs has widened. The unfortunate have be- 
come more unfortunate, because their physical sufferings 
have been irritated by hatred and envy and because their 
destitution has been aggravated by the consciousness of 
forced abstinences. The rate of suicides has been in- 
creasing steadily for decades. 

On the other hand, Reclus continues, modern society, 
however much it may suffer by comparison at certain 
points with the best of the primitive or ancient communi- 
ties, is the result of a remarkable transformation from 
the homogeneous to the heterogeneous, from the rudi- 
mentary to the highly organic, from the simple to the 
complex — an avatar analogous to that by which a seed 
becomes a tree, an egg an animal. "It is, then," to em- 
ploy the exact language of the author, "by the greater 
complexity of the elements of which it is composed that 
modern society can claim to have advanced beyond the 
societies which preceded it ; it has more amplitude, has 
constituted itself into a richer organism by the successive 
assimilation of juxtaposed organisms." Furthermore — 
and this is of equal importance — this transformation has 
gradually become a self-conscious operation. Pure in- 
stinct belongs to the remote past. Evolution is now self- 
conscious evolution. If modern society, to pursue the 
argument, is to prove itself really superior, ethically 
speaking, it must win back the lost virtues of the best 
of the primitive peoples without sacrificing its complexity. 
It must gather up all the energies which have been scat- 
tered by the lapse of ages and also prevent the diminution 
of materials and forces in the present. It must focus and 
harmonize within itself, as it were, the results of the 
labor and the thought of all the ages and the results of 
the labor and thought of to-day. 

Reclus thinks that modern society should show the 
same determination to provide all its members with an 
abundance of bread (a condition realized by many primi- 
tive communities) as it does to provide all its members 
with instruction ; and this reign of plenty, he says, can 
no longer be regarded as an impossible dream, since it 
has been conclusively demonstrated that the resources of 
the earth would be more than sufficient for all its in- 



38 Francisco Fkrrer, 

habitants if accord instead of competition presided over 
their distribution. 

It is another of the primal duties of modern society, 
he holds, to endeavor to restore the sane ethical code 
which dominated the best of these same primitive com- 
munities. For this task Christianity has proved to be 
totally unfit. The pagan philosophers are helpful, but 
they are not sufificient. "The writers of antiquity," re- 
marks Rcclus in this connection, "have bequeathed us 
admirable treatises of ethics and of philosophy for the 
education of the man who knows how to seek wisdom 
and at the same time happiness in governing his pas- 
sions, in steadying his character, in elevating his ideas, 
in restricting his needs. The words of Lucretius, of Zeno, 
of Epictetus, of Seneca, of Horace even, are immortal 
words which will be repeated from age to age and which 
will help to exalt the human ideal and the value of indi- 
viduals. But the task of to-day is no longer this purely 
personal acquisition of stoical heroism ; the task of to-day 
is to conquer for society as a whole, by education and 
by solidarity, that which the ancestors sought for the 
individual alone." 

Again, if it be true (as seems to be established) that 
the average man of the primitive or ancient peoples sur- 
passed the average man of our day in force, in agility, 
in bodily health, in beauty of visage, modern society 
must look to it that we equal these peoples in this respect. 

All these things, Reclus claims, are possible. This 
ideal of reacquiring the qualities of the ancestors, with- 
out losing the modern qualities, is perfectly realizable. 
It is not a chimera. The force of comprehension, the 
increased capacity of the modern man, which permits 
him to reconquer the past of the savage and to fuse it 
with his most refined ideas, will eventuate in a definitive 
and normal reconquest on condition that the new man 
embraces all other men, all the men of all countries and 
of all times in one and the same ensemble ; on condition, 
in other words, that he substitute accord for existence 
in place of struggle for existence. To quote again : 

"Humanity has already made much real progress in this direc- 
tion. It would be absurd to deny it. What is called the incoming 
tide of democracy' is nothing more nor less than the increasing 
sentiment of equality between the members of the different castes, 
erstwhile adversaries. Beneath the thousand shifting appearances 



His Life and Work. 39 

of the surface, this work is being accomplished in the depths of 
the nations, thanks to the increasing knowledge which man is 
acquiring of himself and of his fellows. More and more, we 
succeed in discovering the fundamental matters in which we re- 
semble one another, in disengaging ourselves from the thicket of 
superficial opinions which have kept us separated." 

A transformation analogous to that which is going 
on within communities and within nations is going on 
in the relations between nations. 

"In our time the various ethnical groups are so penetrated with 
the idea of the unity of humanity that they are rendered immune, 
so to speak, against the decadence and against the death to which 
peoples were formerly liable. . . . True, political trespassings, 
akin to the trespassings of the sea upon the shore, will occur 
upon the frontiers of states and these frontiers themselves will 
disappear in many places, in anticipation of the day when they 
shall disappear altogether: divers geographical names will be 
effaced from the maps, but this will not prevent the peoples in- 
cluded in the domain of modern civilization from participating 
in the material, intellectual and moral progress of one another. 
They are in the period of mutual help, and, even when they col- 
lide in bloody shocks, they do not cease to share the results of the 
common endeavor. . . . France and Germany seem like rivals and 
enemies, it is true, but, at bottom, most intimate friends, since 
they are toiling strenuously together at the general work which 
is bound to profit all men. Already, a historical period has mer- 
ited the appellation of 'Humanism,' because it united all the men 
polished by the study of the Greek and Latin past in the common 
enjoyment of lofty thoughts expressed in beautiful languages. 
How much more is our epoch entitled to an analogous appellation, 
since it associates in a solidaire group not only a confraternity of 
the erudite, but entire nations, issuing from the most diverse 
races and peopling the extremities of the globe ! In reality, all 
the nations, including those which call themselves enemies, con- 
stitute, in spite of their chiefs and in spite of the survival of 
hatreds, only one nation, the local progresses of which react upon 
the whole and constitute general progress. Those whom the un- 
known philosopher of the eighteenth century called 'the men of 
desire,' that is to say those who yearn for the good and who 
labor to realize it, are already numerous enough, active enough 
and harmonious enough to guarantee that their work of progress 
will prevail over the elements of retrogression and of disintegra- 
tion produced by the hatreds that remain. . . . The great father- 
land has expanded to the very antipodes, and it is because it is 
conscious of itself that it feels the necessity of giving itself a 
common tongue." 

If Ehsee Reclus has discarded revealed religion, he has 
not been able to discard the religious temperament which 
he inherited from his father, who was a worthy Prot- 
estant pastor in the Gironde. A mighty faith, which 
it is worse than idle for him to attempt to disguise under 



40 Francisco Ferrer_, 

a scientific terminology, informs his farewell message 
to the world. The concluding words of this message 
are these : 

"Happiness, then, as \vc understand it, is not simple personal 
pleasure. It is individual, of course, in the sense that 'each one 
is the artisan of his own happiness,' but it is true, real, profound, 
complete, only in extending itself to all humanity. It may well 
be that sorrows, accidents, diseases, death even, cannot be es- 
caped; but man, by associating himself with man for a work of 
which he comprehends the significance and of which he knows 
the effect, possesses the certainty of helping to direct toward the 
best the great human body of which his own individual cell is 
only an infinitely small part — a millionth part of a millionth part, 
if one counts past generations and not merely the actual inhab- 
itants of the earth enumerated by the censuses. It is not such or 
such a standard of personal and collective existence which consti- 
tutes happiness ; it is the consciousness of advancing toward a 
definite goal, a goal desired and partially created by the will. 
Thus the will of man constructs and re-constructs the world. 
To make the most of the continents, the seas and the enveloping 
atmosphere, to cultivate our terrestrial garden and so regulate 
environment as to favor each individual life of plant, of animal 
and of man, to acquire a definitive consciousness of the solidarity 
of our humanity with itself and with the planet, to embrace in a 
single view our origins, our present, our immediate aims, our re- 
mote destiny, this it is which constitutes genuine happiness and 
genuine development. All resistance to this ideal will yield, and 
even yield without a struggle. The day will come when evolu- 
tion and revolution, succeeding each other immediately — from the 
desire to the deed and from the idea to the realization — will 
mingle and be fused in one and the same phenomenon. 

"However short our lives may be as compared with the slow 
evolutions of humanity, several among us will assist perhaps at 
these great changes, and all of us, with a little attention, may 
decipher the fore-running signs." 

OTHER TEXT-BOOKS OF THE MODERN SCHOOL. 
RESUME OF SPANISH HISTORY. Bv Nicholas Estevanez. 
COMPENDIUM OF UNIVERSAL HISTORY. By Clemencia 

Jacquinet. 
THE UNIVERSAL SUBSTANCE. By A. Bloch and Paraf Javal. 
SUPER-ORGANIC EVOLUTION. Bv Enrique Lluria. 
PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. Bv Odon de Buen. 
MINERALOLOGY. By Odon de Buen. 
FIRST STAGES OF HUMANITY. By Georges Engerrand. 
ETHNICAL PSYCHOLOGY. By Charles Letourneau. 
A FREE WORLD. Bv Jean Grave. 
MIESRY; ITS CAUSE AND CURE. By Leon Martin. 
THE BANQUET OF LIFE. By Anselmo Lorenzo. 
WAR. Bv Charles Malato. 
ANARCHIST MORALITY. By Peter Kropotkin, 



His Life and Work. 41 

primers for children. 

William Heaford describes one of the most interesting 
features of the Modern School as follows : "In the first 
school section — composed of little children — the primary 
elements of literary and scientific knowledge are taught. 
In this, as in each of the three sections, the class-books 
adopted and put into the children's hands are those pub- 
lished by the school itself. 

"The first reading book is at the same time a speller, 
a grammar, and an illustrated manual of evolution. By 
a marvelous feat of exposition which the pedagogues of 
other countries might well envy and endeavor to imitate, 
the majestic history of cosmic evolution, from the atom 
up to the thinking being, is related in language very 
simple and easily comprehensible to the child. 

"A passage from the preface to the second edition is 
worth quoting: 

" 'In publishing this new edition, and in passing in review tlie 
results which we have obtained, we are more than satisfied, for 
our hopes have been more than realized. The teachers' staff is 
improving, and, as we had foreseen, the children learn to speak, 
to know, and to think at the same time. They are engraving 
upon their minds by the two means of observation and of listen- 
ing not only those conventional things which remain in the 
memory, but graphic representations of ideas which serve to in- 
fuse life into the mechanism of the language.' 

"Already, in this section, the children learn habits of 
observation and reflection upon the physical objects which 
surround them, including the ordinary phenomena of 
daily life. Among the subjects of study, grammar, zo- 
ology, geometry, geography, physics, and chemistry are 
found side by side with subjects as widely different as 
French, solfeggio, manual training, and botany. The 
manuals upon which this instruction is based were, for 
the most part, written specially for the school, and with 
full recognition of the specifically rationalist ptirpose 
for which it had been foiuided. 

"The names of the atithors, which comprise, for an- 
thropology, Dr. Engerrand ; for evolution, Dr. Letour- 
neau ; for geography, physics and mineralogy, Dr. Odon 
de Buen, will give an idea of the value and authority of 
the publications which serve as the intellectual basis for 
the instruction given in the schools." 



42 Francisco Ferrer_, 

FERRER'S SYNDICALISM 

THE first number of Ferrer's educational monthly, 
L'Ecolc Renovcc, appeared in Brussels in April, 
1908. Nine months later the journal was moved 
to Paris and transformed into a weekly. At Brussels 
it had remained somewhat philosophic and theoretical, 
both in its editorials and general tendencies. In Paris 
it took up more with practical matters. It was not only 
the organ of rationalist instruction, but it also gave a 
good deal of space to the syndicalist movement. 

Ferrer could not but sympathize with the movement 
which unites all the functionaries of education for the 
defense of their material and moral interests and for the 
perfection of educational methods. He realized that if 
it was always necessary to establish, in addition to the 
State public schools, free schools which should be wholly 
unhampered and should be qualified to serve as models, 
it was useful that the State authorities themselves should 
cause the new methods to penetrate into official educa- 
tion. L'Ecole Renovce was the result of these two en- 
deavors. 

Following are the chief passages in the program which 
appeared in the first Paris number : 

"Our starting-point is the principle that each worker 
should endeavor to obtain technical perfection. 

"The duty of every educator conscious of his social 
role should be the study and the use of the best methods 
of instruction. 

"Now, there are two ways of teaching : One which 
stultifies the child and may forever rob him of all intel- 
lectual curiosity. The other which gives him the taste 
for knowledge, instils into him love of nature and en- 
thusiasm for life, and withal strengthens his faculties. 

"We will investigate and study all ideas, theories, ob- 
servations, and experiments which tend to further this 
second way of teaching, which is the only good way. 

"We will not consider the reform of the school and its 
methods merely in the abstract or merely in general prin- 
ciples. We will try to pursue it into the minutest details 
of application. L'Ecole Renovce will thus endeavor to 
be of true use to each in his dailv task. 



His Life and Work. 43 

"Whatever the question under discussion, we will try 
not to forget the practical point of view. 

"For instance, we will give the greatest amount of 
space to the differences that ought to be made between 
teaching in cities and teaching in the country. 

"But, we must hasten to say, all this would not be of 
much account if we did not at the same time investigate 
— this is extremely important — the material and moral 
circumstances of the educator which influence his fitness 
for giving a good education. 

"For it is not enough to say to a teacher: 'Go, do this.' 
You must ask him : 'Can you do it?' 

"To every man informed in regard to school matters 
it is clearly apparent that a public school teacher can do 
almost nothing unless he has been freed from a triple 
restraint, the restraint of the administration, the restraint 
of politics, and the restraint of conventional morality. 

"In that way we associate ourselves with our comrades, 
who, grouped in their syndicats, struggle for their own 
emancipation, 

"The bulletin of the Federation des Syndicats dTnsti- 
tuteurs proclaims this motto : 'Be a man, since you are 
to make men.' That will be our motto also. L'Ecole 
Renovee will write in favor of two things : the right of 
a worker to perfect himself technically and the struggle 
of union labor. 

"As a matter of fact, the two things, in our opinion, 
are inseparable. Our ideal would be, from now on to 
form a group of those educators who would be the most 
conscientious teachers and the least docile functionaries. 
Our ideal would be to form a group of those men who, 
in accord with the producers at last become masters of 
production, would one day organize good schools free 
from all trammels. 

"We may add that L'Ecole Renovee will not occupy 
itself solely with education in France, but will carefully 
keep abreast of everything that has been and will be 
accomplished for the improvement of schools in other 
countries. 

"We will address not professionals alone, but also the 
public at large, that the people may occupy themselves 
with questions in which hitherto they have not been suffi- 
ciently interested." 



44 Francisco Ferrer^ 

TO FRANCISCO FEJiJlEli 

By J. William Lloyd. 

O Hero of the Unbound Brain! 

From thy great heart the bullets tore, 
From thy great agony of pain. 

There conies to us, forevermore, 

The sign of eoiirage, faithfuhiess 
In faee of death to huinan need; 

And tho these hounds thy flesh possess 
71iy soul goes sozcing Freedom's seed 

Eternally. They murdered thee, 

But on the black cloud of their shame, 

J V here all mankind for aye must see, 
In blood and fire they ivrote thy name. 



F 



THE TRIAL OF FERRER 

By Helen Tufts Bailie and Leonard Abbott. 

RAXCISCO FERRER was tried by court martial 
in Barcelona on October 9, 1909. The trial has 
been fully reported. Not only has the Spanish 
government published a collection of trial documents, but 
the newspapers of Europe were represented at the pro- 
ceedings by reporters. It is from the ofificial documents, 
as well as from the newspaper reports, that the following 
facts are set forth. 

Imagine a man trapped in the midst of his enemies ; 
confronted with the testimony of a multitude of soldiers, 
spies and weak-kneed radicals who had turned "State's 
evidence ;" undefended except by an army captain whom 
he had been compelled to choose at the last moment. 
This was the plight of Ferrer. 

Every influence was hostile to him. The presiding 
officers who constituted his judge and jury were military 
men who had themselves taken an active part in sup- 
pressing the people's anti-militarist revolt in July. No 
less than sixty witnesses had been persuaded, or bribed, 
to testify against him. Many obviously testified to save 
their own skins, and several were allowed to testify 



His Life and Work, 45 

anonymously. Not a single witness was heard on Fer- 
rer's side. 

THE OPENING OF THE TRIAL. 

Pale from his prison confinement and clad in rough 
hoodlum cap and clothes which the prison authorities 
had provided as part of his punishment, Ferrer's first 
act in court was to apologize for his personal appearance. 
He was curtly interrupted. The reading of the indict- 
ment was called for. 

Thereupon the magistrate who had been engaged in 
collecting evidence against Ferrer pointed out that 
among the articles seized during the inquiry were docu- 
ments relating to a proposal for a Spanish Republic, 
various Masonic writings, letters from Free-thinkers, 
and documents relating to a universal society of the pro- 
letariat. He stated that these articles proved that Fer- 
rer had had dealings with the revolutionary elements for 
several years past. 

DEPOSITION OF THE CHIEF OF POLICE. 

The Barcelona Chief of Police was then permitted to 
make a deposition in writing. "Ferrer," he said, "is an ar- 
dent Anarchist, a propagator on a large scale of radical 
ideas, which he seeks to inculcate in our youth through 
his Modern Schools. At Paris he was one of the most 
active agents of the Confederation of Labor. At Lon- 
don he associated with well-known revolutionists and 
Anarchists." 

One phrase in this deposition recalls the charge against 
Socrates. Ferrer, like the old Greek teacher, was ac- 
cused of "corrupting the youth." If to inculcate higher 
ideals and aspirations in the minds of the young is to cor- 
rupt them, then Ferrer was guilty; but only then. As 
to the other accusations of the Chief of Police, one, that 
Ferrer was an active agent of the well-known French 
"Confederation of Labor." is entirely false, and the rest 
are inconsequential. It is no crime to be "an ardent 
Anarchist ;" nor is it a crime to associate with "well- 
known revolutionists and Anarchists." 

THE FORMAL INDICTMENT. 

After the deposition of the Chief of Police had been 
read, the Fiscal, or public prosecutor, proceeded to his 
formal indictment. By a strange irony of fate, the name 



46 Francisco Ferrer, 

of this man was Jesus — Jesus Maria Rafales. This is 
what he said : 

"We prosecute Francisco Ferrer y Guardia as chief of a military 
rebellion. To state our charge precisely, we must explain in what 
sense we use the word chief. By chief we mean the commander, 
the superior, the head; the one whom the mob seeks and recog- 
nizes, who incites and directs the others, who alone raises his 
voice, proclaims the aim of the rebellion, and finds, apportions, 
and distributes the means for accomplishing it." 

It is well that we have the main charge of the Gov- 
ernment so clearly stated. Everyone recognizes now 
that it was an absolutely untruthful charge. We know 
positively that Ferrer was not the head or the chief of 
the July uprising in Barcelona. We know it from his 
own statements, from the statements of his friends, and 
— most important of all — from the statements of the men 
who actually planned and led the July revolt, so far as 
it had any plan or leading. Mario Antonio, delegate of 
the Socialist group, Moreno, delegate of the Workmen's 
Federation, and Miranda, delegate of the Anarchists, 
all three of whom were forced out of Barcelona into 
France because of their revolutionary activities, agree in 
stating that Ferrer had nothing whatever to do with the 
insurrection. Antonio wrote to the Paris Socialist daily, 
Humanite: 

"I have never conversed with Ferrer, have never even seen 
him. Upon my honor I assert this, and no honest man has the 
right to doubt my word. I was one of the three members of 
the Strike Committee at Barcelona, was of the Committee which 
declared the strike, which took the leadership of the movement 
and which followed closely its different developments. I affirm 
that neither I nor any one of the fighters who were in touch 
with us during the events of that tragic week saw Ferrer partici- 
pate in the movement." 

No more direct or specific statement than this could 
be conceived. If the object of the court-martial in Bar- 
celona had been to discover the truth, such testimony 
would have come before it. But no such evidence was 
heard or desired by the coterie of military officials who 
tried Francisco Ferrer. Instead, they listened to the 
irrelevant, rambling and misleading statements of sixty 
witnesses governmentally inspired. 

THE WITNESSES. 

These witnesses were not heard in court. Their depo- 
sitions, like that of the Chief of Police, were read. This 



His Life and Work. 47 

in itself was a grave injustice, and, it should be added, 
a grave violation of Spanish law. The Spanish Govern- 
ment must have been conscious of irregularity, for it 
allowed false reports to be sent out to the newspapers 
conveying the idea that the witnesses had actually been 
heard. It was only through dispatches in the London 
Times that the truth leaked out. 

The evidence against Ferrer may be conveniently 
divided into two parts. The first part bears on his 
alleged complicity in the Barcelona riots ; the second on 
his alleged insurrectionary activities in the neighboring 
villages of Masnou and Premia. 

Following are some of the stories told by witnesses 
who tried to prove that Ferrer was one of the leaders 
of the anti-militarist uprising which broke out in Bar- 
celona on July 26 : 

TESTIMONY OF THE BARBER DOMENECH. 

Domenech, a barber of Masnou — a Figaro was needed 
for this tragic drama ! — testified that he accompanied 
Ferrer across the city of Barcelona. They went to a 
cafe and met Litran, the manager of the Modern School 
Publishing House, and others of Ferrer's friends. They 
all together, according to Domenech, prepared a mani- 
festo appealing to the Government and threatening to 
let loose the dogs of revolution if it did not disembark 
the troops bound for Morocco. But the radicals refused 
to join in this move. Ferrer tried to get Moreno, of 
the Workmen's Federation, whom he met later, to go to 
the office of the Republican journal, El Progreso, and 
make one more attempt to arouse the radicals. Moreno 
replied that these last named were already compromised. 
Then he added : "And woe to him who would betray us 
now, for we should do to them what is done to traitors 
in Russia." 

Such was Domenech's story. Some points he had to 
retract, but even if the truth of all he said is conceded, 
what does it signify? Simply this: Ferrer was, in 
spite of himself, the witness of events in Barcelona. He 
took an interest in what was going on around him, and 
made propositions that were not accepted. Certainly 
that is not the attitude of a leader. 



48 Francisco Ferrer, 

testimony of lorenzo ardid. 

Lorenzo Ardid. a Republican, testified that he took 
coffee at the People's Palace in Barcelona. Ferrer ac- 
costed him, and this conversation took place between 
them, accordinor to Ardid : 

"I have something particular to say to you," Ferrer 
began. 

"Fm at your service." 

"What do you think of to-day's happenings?" 

"I think everything is over. In my opinion it is noth- 
ing more than a mere protest, and will not extend be- 
yond Barcelona." 

Then Ferrer asked him : "Do you really believe it 
cannot go any further?" 

The witness affirmed energetically, and Ferrer rc- 
maincd siloit a }o)ig time. 

This accusation made such an impression on the pub- 
lic prosecutor that Ardid was brought face to face with 
the accused — one of the very few that Ferrer saw 
throughout the proceedings — and Ferrer admitted that 
he had remained silent a long time ! 

OTHER TESTIMONY BEARING ON BARCELONA. 

Francisco de Paule Colldeforas saw on one of the 
main streets of Barcelona on the evening of July 26 a 
group of people commanded by an individual. And that 
individual seemed to him to he Ferrer whom he knew 
beeause he had seen his photograph. 

Two soldiers of the Santiago regiment solemnly de- 
posed that on the evening of the 26th, they told an in- 
dividual whom they met on the streets to "move on." 
He was reading a proclamation on the wall, and he re- 
torted angrily: "Can't a man read that?" And that 
individual was Francisco Ferrer ! 

There was much more of the same kind of testimony. 
Soldiers, detectives, the barber, the treacherous Repub- 
licans, all hrd their say. Captain Galceran. Ferrer's de- 
fender, summed up their testimony in a neat phrase: 
"May it please the Court to reflect that this magnificent 
testimonial proof resolves itself into suppositions based 
on rumors." 



His Life and Work. 49 

how ferrer spent july 26. 

Ferrer wrote to his friend Malato in Paris exactly 
what he did on July 26: 

"The 26th I was surprised, like most of the people, by the 
general strike. I knew not a word of it before. I went to Barce- 
lona, where I had made an appointment at my office, Cortes 536, 
with the persons who were to compose the prospectus for the 
'Great Revolution,' by Kropotkin, which I was to publish with 
illustrations and de luxe, like Reclus' 'Man and the Earth.' I 
had spent the morning at the printer's, at the paper dealer's, in 
a book shop, and at my office ; the afternoon with the stereotyper, 
with another paper manufacturer, and again at the printer's. 
At six o'clock I was going to leave for Mongat [the neighboring 
village where he lived] when I found the gates closed at the 
station. As I was tired, I went and dined, and then I left for 
Mongat on foot, where I remained until noon." 

TESTIMONY BEARING ON MASNOU AND PREMIA, 

Ferrer was accused of inciting the people of Masnou 
and Premia on the days folloAving the rebellion in Bar- 
celona. 

Domenech testified that on July 28, Ferrer came from 
his home at Mongat to Masnou to be shaved. Then he 
asked the barber (according to the latter 's story) to try 
to find Juan Puig Ventura Llarch for him. He had 
not seen Llarch for twenty-five years. Yet he proposed 
to Llarch that the people of Masnou be aroused. They 
were entirely too calm, he intimated ; they ought to set 
to work burning convents ! Juan Puig's virtue was out- 
raged by this proposition. He was a Republican, and 
it is not by burning convents that the Republic will be 
established, 

Domenech went on to assert that Llarch accompanied 
Ferrer to Premia del Mar, and stayed there for two 
hours. 

Nineteen witnesses testified that they saw Llarch walk- 
ing along the highroad accompanied by a man who, they 
were told, was Ferrer. Llarch and Ferrer, it was said, 
had an interview with prominent Republicans in the Re- 
publican Fraternity rooms in Premia. 

The Republican Mayor of Premia. who had himself 
been arrested for complicity in the July uprising, testi- 
fied that "an individual calling himself Ferrer" incited 
him to rebel. 



50 Francisco Ferrer, 



WHAT FERRER ACTUALLY DID IN MASNOU AND PREMIA. 

Ferrer wrote to Malato the following detailed account 
of his movements in Masnou and Premia: 

"On Wednesday, the 28th of July, I went to Masnou, a village 
two kilometers distant from Mas Germinal [his home] to get 
shaved, as I was in the habit of doing twice a week. As soon 
as I reached the barber's, the shop tilled up with people to see 
me, as the rumor was current that I was directing the movement 
at Barcelona — a circumstance of which I was not aware. I 
quickly made those people understand that I had nothing to do 
with it at all, — but, on the contrary, was wanting to get news 
from Barcelona, to learn if the shops were open, as I wanted 
to go see my book shop as soon as the strike was over. Just 
then a towboat passed, with some people belonging in Masnou 
who were coming from Barcelona and who were to land at 
Premia, a village two kilometers beyond Masnou, they not being 
allowed to land at Masnou. Then I asked a certain Puig Llarch, 
— who had just stated that he had succeeded in calming a crowd 
that had wanted to go to excess in its demonstration, on which 
account he had been congratulated by the mayor of Masnou, — 
if he cared to go to Premia with me to learn something about 
the state of things in Barcelona from some of the people just 
arriving from there. This Llarch is the president of the Repub- 
lican Committee of Masnou. He accepted, and we went to 
Premia ; but the people had not yet landed, and we returned, he 
to Masnou, and I to Mongat. Naturally, during the five or ten 
minutes that we remained in Premia, we were surrounded by a 
good many persons who asked us for news, and we them, as 
one does in such circumstances, anywhere. Very well ! They 
want to make a big thing out of this visit, because this Puig of 
Masnou declared to the authorities that I had proposed to him 
to further the Barcelona movement and to burn the convent 
and the church at Masnou — which is not at all true. Afterward, 
the Republican mayor of Premia, one Casas, who appears to 
have been among the people that came around us, comes and 
declares that I had proposed to him to proclaim the republic at 
Premia and to burn the convent and the church — which is also 
false. The judge confronted me with these two scoundrels, who 
persisted in what they had said despite my protests in which I 
reminded them that we had simply exchanged the usual words 
of the day: 'What is going on? What do you know about, here 
or there? What are the people saying?'" 

DOCUMENTARY EVIDENCE AGAINST FERRER. 

Ferrer was questioned concernino; two violent incendi- 
ary circulars alleged to have been found during a search 
of his house. He disclaimed knowledge of these. The 
circulars were in fact "found" by the police during a 
.search when competent witnesses — witnesses required 
by law — were not present, and the documents were not 



His Life and Work. 51 

mentioned in the search warrant as having been found. 
No copies of them were ever found elsewhere, though 
the houses of scores of suspects were ransacked. One 
of the circulars had three letters changed in ink. Ex- 
perts stated that these might have been changed by Fer- 
rer's hand. The Fiscal falsified this into a positive dec- 
laration that the experts believed Ferrer must have done 
it. The contents of these two circulars found their way 
to the public press before they zvere submitted to the 
judges, and were reprinted in newspapers far and wide, 
creating a formidable prejudice against Ferrer. Another 
document which bore upon Ferrer's beliefs twenty years 
previous and which had been barred out at the time of 
Ferrer's trial in 1907, was actually used by the Fiscal in 
this trial and was received in evidence. 

CAPTAIN GALCERAn's DEFENSE. 

Captain Galceran made a heroic effort to save Ferrer's 
life. He tried to bring into court the whole collection 
of books used in the Modern School. Having confis- 
cated these, the Government could and did refuse to allow 
this request. Letters and documents of the most vital 
consequence, explaining as they did, Ferrer's presence in 
Barcelona, and other matters bearing on the case, were 
actually sent to Captain Galceran by Ferrer's friends in 
France and England, but were "lost" in the Spanish 
mails. On October 2, Galceran wrote to Madame Sole- 
dad Villafranca — then imprisoned with several of Fer- 
rer's associates in the town of Teruel, asking for an 
affidavit signed by all of them and setting forth the facts 
as they knew them concerning Ferrer's movements dur- 
ing the rioting in Barcelona. This letter was four days 
in reaching Madame Villafranca. The affidavit was pre- 
pared and posted immediately (October 7). It should 
have reached Captain Galceran the next morning. It 
did not arrive, and was never heard from. 

In open court Ferrer's advocate eloquently pleaded 
for the prisoner's life. He showed that Ferrer's ruin 
was sought by the corrupt interests menaced by the Mod- 
ern Schools. He had encountered, he said, in the prepa- 
ration of his case so much "fraud" and "vile passion" 
in a single week that he was "completely overwhelmed." 



52 Francisco Ferrer, 

ferrers concluding words. 

The animus of the judges and prosecuting officers 
was by this time so pronounced and violent that Ferrer 
must have reahzed that nothing could save him. He con- 
tented himself, in his conchuling speech, with a (juiet 
protestation of innocence. He said : 

"With the consent of the presiding officer, let me ask the Court 
to judge me only upon the facts connected with the events of the 
last week of July or of the days immediately preceding, during 
which certain persons incited or prepared the general strike of 
July 26. If this is done, you must find me innocent, for I had no 
part whatever in the inciting of that event. 

"Let me say also that it would be wholly unjust to condemn 
me to-day for my political opinions or utterances during the last 
twenty years of the nineteenth century, with none of which have 
1 ever been officially reproaclied or called to account for. Nor 
should my work during the present century in connection with 
the Modern School be brought up against me ; for the publications 
of that school are either translations of classic authors, whose 
names are accepted and glorious, or else the work of modern 
authors of world-wide reputation, of acknowledged wisdom, of 
humane sentiments. Let me close by affirming that those who 
criticize the works published by the Modern School either have 
not read them, or else, as the result of the prejudice which they 
entertain, are incapable of judging them." 

;<( :): :): ^ ;{< :|c ^ 

A few hours later the sentence of death was decreed. 

;): ;); ^ ^ * ^ ^ 

So the hideous drama was enacted. So this brave 
man went to his doom. Francisco Ferrer, the founder 
of the Modern Schools, was condemned before he was 
tried. ^. ^, ^ 

TWELVE HOURS OF AGONY— HOW FERRER 

DIED 

AFTER the sentence of death had been decreed, 
Francisco Ferrer was taken from his cell to 
the chapel of the Montjuich fortress. The gov- 
ernor of the prison came to him there, accompanied 
by two black-hooded monks, and informed him tiiat 
he was to be shot the next morning, and that the 
orders were to place him in the chapel all night so 
that he might prepare for his death. 

With perfect self-possession Ferrer threw away the 
\ cigarette he was smoking, and said, "It is unnecessary 



His Life and Work. 53 

to place me in the chapel, for I do not believe in your 
religion and do not require its ministrations." 

But the g-Qvernor replied that orders must be 
obeyed, and two warders came forward to robe the 
condemned man in a long black gown and hood, on 
the breast of which was a great white cross. He re- 
fused to wear it, however, and was allowed to remain 
in the chapel as he was. 

THE NIGHT IN THE CHAPEL. 

The six yellow candles on the altar feebly lightened 
the gloom. The monks at once began to offer Latin 
prayers, turning every now and then to offer their 
services to Ferrer, only to be gently waved away. 

The prisoner was visited by a Jesuit and by a repre- 
sentative of the Bishop of Barcelona, who spoke to him 
of the repose of his soul, and begged him to confess. 

Ferrer replied, "Leave me to die in peace. I have 
my ideas and I am as firm in my convictions, as you are 
in yours. If you wish to argue we will talk, or other- 
wise you may go." 

Ferrer asked to see his counsel. Captain Galceran, 
and maintained perfect serenity until the latter ar- 
rived. Then he was greatly agitated. 

He gave a farewell message to his daughters. "Tell 
them," he said, "that their father dies with a clear con- 
science and that his only crime is that of trying to 
break the blackness of superstition and ignorance in 
which his country is enshrouded." 

As his counsel, who was deeply moved, prepared to 
say farewell, he embraced Ferrer, who at this point 
broke down and wept violently. 

Ferrer next expressed a desire to dictate his last 
will to a notary ; and they fetched Ricardo Permanyer, 
who remained with him for more than seven hours. 
When the lawyer thought he had finished the last 
clause of this testament, Ferrer suddenly recollected 
that he had omitted an important clause; and Per- 
manyer was recalled, and the dictation resumed. 

Ferrer, who would not kneel down, had to stand up 
all the time in the chapel where he was obliged to 
spend the last hours of his life, and all the night he 
walked up and down with a rapid step in the limited 



/■ 

/ 



54 Francisco Ferrer_, 

space left to him between the rows of priests and 
monks telling the beads of their rosaries. 

Throughout the night there were signs of sinister 
preparations in Barcelona. The left side of the city 
was closely patrolled, and at five in the morning two 
companies of infantry and two mounted squadrons 
could be seen defiling in the Colon district. Curious 
persons or passers-by were compelled to accompany 
the patrols, in order that they might not spread abroad 
the news that an execution was approaching. 

DAYLIGHT. 

Later, as the dim light of day entered the chapel 
window, a priest came in to say mass and to urge 
Ferrer to make his confession and receive holy com- 
munion. He refused firmly. 

At last the death bell of the chapel began to toll. 
It might have been seven o'clock when the inhabitants 
of the neighborhood saw with a shudder two Brothers 
of Peace and Charity walking slowly up to Montjuich, 
carrying with them the coffin for the condemned man. 

When, at eight o'clock, General Escrin arrived, who 
was to command the shooting party, some fifty per- 
sons at the most had been able to gain the heights 
overlooking the moats of Montjuich, and could see 
the squadrons of cavalry take up their position in the 
moat of Saint-Eulalie, surrounding the two companies 
of infantry who were to do the honors and — shoot. 

It was a quarter to nine exactly when they came to 
apprise Ferrer that he must prepare to march to his 
death. He had been in the chapel since eight o'clock 
the previous evening! 

He at once declared that he was ready. 

But he had to still wait while the castle authorities 
went carefully through the operation of casting lots. 
It is thus that priests and soldiers who assist at an 
execution are selected. 

THE WALK TO THE MOAT. 

At last all was arranged. The escort formed, and, 
placed in the middle, Ferrer marched in step with 
the soldiers. 

The chaplain of the castle walked by his side, mur- 



His Life and Work. 55 

muring no doubt the words of peace and supreme con- 
solation. Ferrer's voice could be heard clearly, beg- 
ging him to withdraw. But the priest replied that 
duty commanded him to remain at his post. 

"Very well, then," responded Ferrer. 

And those two men, so far in spirit from each other, 
marched side by side, and spoke no more. 

The way was long. It was necessary to traverse a 
vast stretch of the precincts of the castle before reach- 
ing a postern which opened on the moat Saint-Eulalie. 

At that postern Ferrer was received (an adminis- 
trative irony!) by the governor of Montjuich, who 
awaited him as a distinguished guest. He was sur- 
rounded by all the other functionaries who were pres- 
ent out of duty or curiosity. 

Ferrer's last request. 

Ferrer continued to walk forward firmly with head 
erect. Arriving before the governor, where the escort 
paused, he looked at him and awaited his questions. 

"Have you any last request to make, or any wish 
to confide to me?" the governor asked. 

Ferrer looked him straight in the face and replied : 
"I only wish, if it is possible, that I may not be forced 
on my knees and bandaged." 

A long colloquy took place among the ofificers. 
Could he be permitted to die in that way? After an 
exchange of opinion in undertones, the governor de- 
cided the question by granting Ferrer the right to 
meet his death standing, but it was absolute that his 
eyes should be bandaged. 

"I thank you," Ferrer said. 

He was then conducted to the end of the moat, by 
the wall, near which the infantry were drawn up in 
lines behind the two rows of the execution party, 

""long live the modern " 

Ferrer's hands were tied behind his back ; his eyes 
were bandaged ; and he was left alone. At the moment 
when the commanding officer of the firing party drew 
his sword, Ferrer cried with a strong voice: 

"Aim carefully, my children. It is not your fault. 
I am innocent. Long live the Modern " 



56 Francisco Ferrer^ 

The word "School" was lost in the crack of the 
rifles. 

The officer approached him with a doctor. It was 
seen that Ferrer breathed no longer. Death had been 
instantaneous. 

The prisoner's death being certified, the troops de- 
filed slowly before the corpse, then marched ofT in 
order, and disappeared at the angle of the moat. 

Then the Brothers of Peace and Charity approached 
the corpse. The coffin was lifted on four shoulders, and 
the procession returned along the road to the castle. 

THE BURIAL OF FERRER. 

It was by a very special favor that the relations of the 
victim were allowed to be present at his burial. Ferrer 
remained visible in his open coffin, according to the Span- 
ish custom, until the last moment. The modest coffin of 
blackened pine was brought down in the night. Ferrer 
was stretched out in the same gray garments which have 
been seen in his latest photographs. His head was 
wrapped in blood-stained bandages, but this sinister tur- 
ban did not conceal the broken bones and the fragments 
of his oozing brain. His right cheek-bone was broken in, 
and an open wound stretched up to his temples. His 
throat was bleeding a little, and had been stopped up 
with a handful of chalk. In the middle of his forehead 
a small orifice revealed the passage of a bullet, which had 
gone out at the top of his skull. His face was bloodless ; 
but his hands were swollen and black, and added to the 
sinister horror of the spectacle. When the coffin was 
lifted for burial, it was noticed that it had been standing in 
a big pool of blood, and all through the funeral procession 
the horrible box left traces of its passage along the road. 
The authorities would not allow burial in a private tomb, 
and the remains were consigned to the common ditch. 
The family, however, was permitted to put a stone to in- 
dicate where he had been buried. His mother was taken 
ill during this painful ceremony. It is related that this 
poor old woman came to the office of the Castle of Mont- 
juich the previous evening asking to see her son. not 
knowing that he had already been shot. Permission was 
refused without any explanations being given. 



His Life and Work. 57 

THE AFTERMATH 

As soon as the outrageous execution was known in 
Europe, the indignation of the people became bound- 
less. 

Two of the radical papers of Paris, L'Humanite and 
La Guerre Sociale, sent out special editions calling 
the people to make demonstrations before the 
Spanish Embassy. The Parisians answered by the 
thousands. About 20,000 persons were assembled 
in the Boulevard de Courcelles and the Boulevard 
Malesherbes. They could not reach the embassy, as 
it was strongly guarded by a considerable force of 
police. The great Socialist leader Jaures, and other 
members of Parliament were present. The immense 
crowd were incessantly shouting: "Long live Ferrer! 
Death to Alfonso! A bas I'Espagnc monarchiquc! 
Vive Ferrer! Assassins! Assassins! And from time 
to time they sang the "Internationale." 

By a unanimous vote the Paris Municipal Council 
has decided to provide for the support of Ferrer's 
daughters and grandchildren. These latter, however, 
refused to accept the proffered help. When Trinidad 
Ferrer heard of her father's doom she indignantly re- 
nounced her native country and became naturalized as 
a French citizen. Paz Ferrer, another of his daugh- 
ters, who was utterly overcome, issued some heart- 
broken and vehement defenses of her father. Both 
were devoted to him. 

Over fifty towns and cities in France named streets 
after him. 

The committee of the Rights of Man Society in Paris 
resolved to raise a statue to his memory. 

In many cities of Italy there were general strikes 
for twenty-four hours or less, as a token of respect. 
In Rome, the mayor, interpreting the universal feeling, 
caused to be posted a black-edged manifesto protest- 
ing against the "barbarous deed." 

The municipal council of Genoa adjourned out of 
respect for Sefior Ferrer. 

The municipal officials of Florence decided to re- 
name the Via Arcivescavado, calling it instead the Via 
Ferrer. 



58 Francisco Ferrer, 

In Germany the Socialist, Liberal and Conservative 
press strongly condemned the "brutal deed." 

In Brussels a great international committee was 
formed for the purpose of raising funds for a statue. 

Spanish goods were boycotted, and for a time Spanish 
ships could not be unloaded at luiropean ports. 

Radicals in England, the United States, South Amer- 
ica and Cuba organized demonstrations of protest. 
Even Australia, India, Japan and Persia were heard 
from. 

«r' ^ Vt' 

FERRER'S LAST LETTERS FROM PRISON 

The last letters of Ferrer, written, respectively, to the 
Spanish Republican paper. El Pais, to his friends in 
Paris, Charles IMalato and Madame Charles Albert, and 
to Soledad Villafranca, are given herewith : 

Celular Prison, Barcelona, 
October 7, 1909. 

To the Managing Editor of El Pais. 

Dear Sir : — Though my incoymniinicado'^ was with- 
drawn six days ago, it was not until yesterday that I was 
allowed to read the papers — a thing I had demanded 
from the very first. On reading the monstrous false- 
hoods printed about me, I hasten to address this rectifica- 
tion to you and ask you to do me the great honor of pub- 
lishing it in your worthy columns. 

"it is untrue " 

I shall begin by declaring it is untrue that I took any 
part whatsoever, either as leader or otherwise, in the 
events of the last week in July (there is no charge against 
me in the documents of my case). 

Nevertheless, the Judge has not lost any time trying 
to find proofs of my culpability. In the first place, he 
questioned the 3,000 prisoners taken, it seems, from 
throughout Catalonia, to find out if they knew me or had 
received any money or orders from me. None could 
reply in the affirmative. 



* A rule prohibiting a prisoner from any communication with 
the outer world by personal intercourse or letter. 



His Life and Work. 59 

Very soon after, a detailed investigation was made at 
Mongat and Premia, where, it is said, I had overthrown 
everything. The authorities there were questioned, also 
a number of persons who might be in a position to help 
justice. They were asked what part I had taken in the 
events. In the inquiries there is a great deal of talk of 
an armed band, of shooting, dynamite, an explosion, of 
a carriage that went back and forth between Mongat and 
Premia, and of some cyclists who constantly kept carry- 
ing Ferrer's orders to the insurgents. Everybody says 
this, but nobody can swear to the Judge that he saw the 
armed band, the carriage, the cyclists, or heard the shoot- 
ing and explosions. All merely repeat that they heard 
these things spoken of. 

Not finding any proof against me, the court ordered 
a search of my home at Mongat, though two had already 
been made — one on August 11 by about twenty police 
and the guardia ciznl, which lasted twelve hours ; another 
on August 27 by six police, which lasted three days and 
two nights. According to disclosures made by the police, 
the minister sent more than 400 telegrams ordering the 
latter search, and there will be much to say about it. The 
last time the court had the search made by two engineer- 
ing officers and some engineering soldiers, who sounded 
the walls of the main house and outhouses, and destroyed 
whatever it seemed necessary to them to destroy. They 
made plans of the house and explored the water pipes. 
As on the previous occasions, however, they could find 
no proof of what they were hunting for. 

When the Judge did not know where to discover the 
proof he wanted, he had the happy idea of calling upon 
Ugarte, since Ugarte had gone to Barcelona to make an 
investigation by order of the Government, The attorney 
of the Supreme Court replied, like the people of Premia, 
that he had heard that I was the director of the entire 
movement, and that he was only echoing a rumor general 
in Barcelona. This was the last step the Judge took. 

What do you think of that ? 

Is it serious and worthy of Spain? 

What will be said of us in view of such facts ? 



6o Francisco Fkrrer. 



I TROTEST- 



I should add that I strongly protest against the conduct 
of the poHce, which during my trial at Madrid three 
years ago behaved in an inadmissible fashion, lowering 
itself to falsify documents in the hope of ruining me. 
Now it is doing even worse things, which will come to 
light at the trial. 

I also protest against the seizure of my clothes. They 
have taken everything, from my underdrawers to my 
hat, and have made me wear wretched things, in which 
I must appear before the Judge of the private examina- 
tion and the prison officers. The last time I saw the 
Judge I asked him in vain for a suit of my own to wear 
at the trial. He replied that all my effects had been con- 
fiscated. I could not even get a few pocket handker- 
chiefs. 

I must also protest against my detention during the 
month of the incomuiunicado in one of those dungeons 
called "rigiiroso castigo;' in which the sanitary condi- 
tions are so dreadful that if I had not always enjoyed 
splendid health and did not possess a will which lets me 
rise above these human ills, I should have died before 
the incommunicado ended. 

I beg every editor, not only Republican and Liberal 
editors, but also all who rise above political passion and 
possess a feeling of justice, to reproduce this protest, in 
order, in a degree, to dispel the vile atmosphere by which 
I have been encompassed, and so facilitate my lawyer's 
task with the tribunal that is to try me. 

F. Ferrer. 

Celular Prison, Barcelona, 
October i, 1909. 
To Charles Malato. 

Dear Charles. — The incommunicado in force for a 
month has just been withdrawn, but I have not been al- 
lowed to read a thing yet, not a letter or a paper. Instead 
of putting me in the department for political offenders, 
they have put me in a cell for criminals, in which I have 
been locked up all day without being able to get news 
of myself to any one at all. It is night now, and it is 
by the kindness of an employee that I can write to you. 



His Life and Work. 6i 

"who set the rumor afloat?" 

I will try to tell you about my case. From my letter 
of August IO-I2 you are aware that I had not the slight- 
est knowledge of the project for a general strike on July 
26 to signify the protest against the Moroccan campaign. 
And I do not know how the rumor could have gotten 
about that I was the promoter of the strike. Who set 
the rumor afloat? Was it the Lerrouxist Republicans, 
because the movement, according to L'Humanite, had its 
roots in the Workmen's Federation? The Lerrouxists 
are eager to make it appear that I am their enemy, since, 
according to them, I protected the Workmen's Federa- 
tion, which was fighting them. 

Was it the clericals, who saw in the strike a fine occa- 
sion for calling me over the coals again? I think both 
sides were interested in hurting me. However that may 
be, I did not take any care in the matter, as I knew I 
had had no share in the movement and thought I should 
be let alone. But a member of my family came home 
one day thoroughly frightened. She had been at Alella 
and had heard a girl say I had been at Premia engaged 
in burning a convent at the head of a band of incen- 
diaries. The girl did not give this information second- 
hand. Not at all. She said it was with her own eyes 
she had seen me setting fire to the convent. Who is 
that girl? Is she the servant at a school conducted by 
monks in Alella (my native village, very near Mongat), 
or is she the servant of one of the numerous clergy at 
Alella? This gave me food for thought. You will re- 
member that no convent at Premia was burned, and that 
at the time I was not in Premia. 

the arrest. 

For this reason I prepared to leave my home the next 
day to go to friends for several days and let the excite- 
ment blow over. Several days later I wanted to appear 
before a Judge who had summoned me, but the friends 
with whom I was dissuaded me. They told me to wait 
awhile, since the Judge gave me twenty days' time. But 
on August 29 I read in the paper that Ugarte, the Attor- 
ney-General, who had been at Barcelona to conduct an 
investigation and had returned to Madrid, had said on 



62 Francisco Ferrer^ 

leaving the palace after he had read his report that I 
was the organizer of the revolutionary movement at Bar- 
celona and the coast villages. I could no longer contain 
myself, and, contrary to my friends' advice, I decided 
to go to the authorities to protest against the rumors 
and assertions, no matter how high the source from which 
they sprang. I left my friends' home the night of August 
31 to take the inland railroad. I am not known on that 
line, and I thought I should be able to reach Barcelona 
without hindrance and give myself up freely. But I 
did not reckon with the somatcrv^ of my village. I had to 
walk twelve kilometers to the railroad station, and on my 
way there the somatcn arrested me. and despite my entrea- 
ties to take me to the Judge who had summoned me, he 
took me to the Governor of Barcelona. Those peasants, 
all of whom knew me, were disgustingly savage, espe- 
cially one of my own age, Bernadas Miralta, with whom 
I had played as a child. He tied my wrists tight with 
a rope, and several times he threatened to shoot my 
brains out, because, he said, I was the wickedest man on 
earth. So he had heard everywhere, he said, and that 
is what he had read in the papers. 

They stood guard over me for six hours in the town 
hall. Once I asked for a drink. I had been talking the 
whole time. They brought me a hotijo of fresh water, 
but Bernadas would not untie my hands to let me help 
mvsclf. He offered to pour the water down my mouth 
himself. I refused, and he had the water taken away. 
I did not get a drink. I tell you this just to give you 
an idea of the state of mind of the clericals with regard 
to me. 

"tiiey deprived me of all my clothes." 

In mv interview with the Governor of Barcelona, when 
I declared my innocence, he replied that the reading of 
the books of the Modern School might very well have 
been one of the prime causes of the rebellion. Therefore 
i was responsible. At the Jefatura of the police I was 
made to pass through the Bertillon system. Then they 



♦The somaten is an armed guard, an institution of the vil- 
lagers to protect their property against thieves. At need the 
somaten places himself at the service of reactionary govern- 
ments in the capacity of a policeman. 



His Life and Work. 63 

deprived me of all my clothes, underwear and all, from 
mv hat to my shoes, and, to the astonishment even of 
the employees, since it was the first time they had seen 
such a thing, they gave me newly-bought clothes. The 
entire outfit cost fourteen francs. Some of it was too 
small. I couldn't get the waistcoat to button, while 
the trousers were fifteen centimetres too long. The cap 
could have done for an Apache Indian. In this disguise 
I was sent to the Judge and to prison ! Two policemen 
accompanied me in the closed wagon in which I was 
taken to prison. The wagon jolted so much and so often 
that the policemen w^ondered what was the matter. 
Finally they opened a little window to ask the coachmen 
why they were going so fast, and where they were going. 
The coachmen answered that they had been ordered to 
make a wide detour in order not to meet the workmen 
who were leaving the factories just then (it was noon). 
They had also been ordered to drive the horses at a 
swift trot without stopping for anything. 

THE FIRST EXAMINATION. 

Now, as to my first examination by the Judge, the 
Commandant Vicente Llivina y Fernandez. It took place 
the evening of the day I was arrested, September ist. 
He asked me how I had spent the 24th, 25th and 26th 
of July. I replied that on the 24th and 25th I had not 
left Mongat, and I told him in detail about my stay in 
Barcelona on the 26th (just as I wrote about it to you 
in my letter of August 10-12).* I spoke of my surprise 
when I learned that a general strike had been declared. 
Then he asked me to say if I thought the strike and 
revolt had been managed and led by anybody, and, if 

* Following is the version of Ferrer's account of the way he 
spent the 26th of July as it appears in the prosecutor's report : 

"He declares that after he was acquitted in the case relating 
to Morral's attempt, he was kept under constant and close sur- 
veilance by the police ; which did not trouble him. That he did 
not leave Mongat either on July 24th or 25th, or four or five 
days before, but that he did leave it on July 26th, at 8 o'clock, 
to go to Barcelona, where he had various matters to attend to. 
That among other things he wanted to find out how much a 
new work would cost him. That then he went to his office in 
Barcelona, where he found the engraver awaiting him. That 
next he left his office and went to all the other places on foot. 
That he entered the Cafe Suisse intending to lunch there, but 



64 Fkan CISCO Ferrkr^ 

so, by whom. I explained what I had read in L'Hiima- 
nitc (the first fortni^^htly issue in August). I advise you 
to read it if you haven't as yet. I advised the Judge to 
read it. The account seems to me to have been written 
by one of three or four persons who initiated the move- 
ment, he so thoroughly explains everything that hap- 
pened. The Judge then asked me about many more 
things. I had the impression that he was animated by 
the spirit by which every Judge should be, by the desire 
to get at the truth and nothing but the truth. So I said 
to myself I should not remain in prison long. But the 
2d and the 3d and the 4th and the 5th passed, and the 
Judge did not visit me again. That perplexed me. The 
6th came, and I was called to an interview. There was 
a different Judge, also a commandant, a very correct 
man, Valerio Raso, in whom I soon detected a Bccerra 
del Toro of infamous memory. Polite, very gentlemanly, 
apparently a good man, but too much taken with his 
office, too inquisitorial in his treatment of the accused. 
Such qualities make those men forget that they are judges 
who must seek the truth on all sides, not on one side 
alone. 

EXAMINATION BY A SECOND JUDGE. 

Valerio Raso began by having two army physicians 
examine my body for any traces of a recent bruise, or 
wound, or scar. He recalled to the physicians their 
oath to tell the truth, and they went at the examination 
of me from head to foot with such particularity that if 
by ill chance I had hurt myself in some way at home, if 
I had had the least scratch, nothing would have availed 

did not, because the waiter gave him an unpleasant reception. 
That he ordered a ])ox with a dress in it for his wife to be 
sent to the station before ten minutes past six, because he thought 
he would leave by the 6.10 train. That lie could not leave, the 
road having been cut off, and that he decided to return to Mon- 
gat on foot ; which he did, after having dined. That he reached 
Mongat at five o'clock in the morning, and did not leave it 
until July 29 in the morning, when he went to live with some 
friends, in the hope that the peoples' feelings would have calmed 
down. For he had heard that a girl of Alella had said that he 
had put himself at the head of revolutionaries, who had burned 
a convent at Prcmia. He added that he did not wish to mention 
the name of the family that had harbored him, and that he had 
been arrested by the somatcn of Alella on the road from 
Masnon." 



His Life and Work. 65 

me. I should have been shot to death without delay. 
Since they could find nothing suspicious on my body, 
they took to searching my head, as if they intended to 
count my hairs. The same with my hands. They ex- 
amined each nail, one by one. They were looking to 
see if my hair or nails had been scorched. That would 
have been proof that I had been present at the con- 
flagration of the convents. Suppose I had burned myself 
while smoking or while lighting a fire at home. At the 
end of the visit the Judge sent me back to my cell. 

The new Judge questioned me on the 9th. He asked 
me if I had been at the People's Palace in Barcelona on 
the 26th (the Peoples' Palace is the Lerrouxist centre), 
and at Masnou and Premia on the 26th, and why I had 
gone there. I told him the truth. He did not seem to 
attach much importance to this, but paid a good deal of 
attention to a brief biography of myself which I had sent 
to Furnemont in 1907 upon his request. Furnemont 
wanted it for publication in the Almanach of the Inter- 
national Federation of Free Thought issued that year. 
Since I had previously told the Judge that I took no 
part in the activity of any political or revolutionary party, 
but devoted myself solely to a rationalist education, he 
thought he had caught me in a contradiction, because 
in my biography I had made revolutionary statements. 
I showed him his error. I had spoken of my revolu- 
tionary ideas in 1885, and had added that now I had 
faith in nothing but education, etc. Then he laid stress 
on a letter I wrote to Lerroux in 1889, asking him to 
become the leader of the Republican movement in Spain. 
I told him that then I had not yet been entirely cured of 
active interest in political questions. The next significant 
thing, in his opinion, was a letter from Estevanez in 
1906, answering Morral about a book he had asked 
for and a receipt for making a certain mortar. I told 
him all that had been discussed and passed upon at my 
trial in 1906- 1907. The last thing he trumped up was 
something awful, a revolutionary leaflet that the police 
had found in my home, a leaflet I had never seen. It 
looked old. The Judge told me the leaflet had been found 
in the presence of my brother, my sister-in-law, and 
Soledad. I told him that if what he said was so, I did 
not know how the leaflet had gotten into my house, but 



^ Francisco Ferrer^ 

I could assure him I had never seen it. The writer of 
the leaflet spoke of burning the convents, wiping the 
churches out of existence, and destroying the banks and 
everything else. You see, my friend, that this leaflet 
was the very thing. If I could have been proved to have 
been the author of it and to have distributed it myself, 
as the Judge maintained he knew I had, that would have 
been all they wanted. I realized they wished at all costs 
to make me responsible for everything, though I had 
done absolutely nothing. 

Ferrer's protest against the leaflet. 

After the Judge left I had plenty of time to think about 
that cursed leaflet, for ten days passed before the Judge 
returned. When I saw him on the 19th, at my second 
examination, I protested against the presence of that 
leaflet in my case. I said it was a mistake on the part 
of the police or the Judge to say that the leaflet had been 
found in my family's presence. I knew it had not, since 
the search made at Mongat on August 1 1 in my family's 
presence, in the presence of a lieutenant of the guardxa 
civil, and of two persons in authority in the locality, 
though twelve hours were spent reading all my papers, 
had brought out only three things which were seized : 
a letter from Qiarles Albert to my brother, a letter from 
Anselmo Lorenzo speaking of a loan of 900 pesetas I 
had made to the Workmen's Federation when it rented 
its quarters, and a key several years' old belonging to 
Lerroux. That is to say, they found nothing. The 
Judge promised me to file my protest, but I have heard 
nothing about it since. 

''he went away leaving me in great anguish." 

The questioning that day, the 19th, turned on the draft 
of a revolutionary appeal I made in 1892 during the 
Free Thought Congress at Madrid. The Judge would 
see in it a great coincidence between what I wrote then 
and what happened in July, 1909, seventeen years later. 
It was in vain that I called his attention to the fact that 
there was no coincidence at all, that the draft had never 
been printed, and I had not thought of it since. He 
stuck to his notion, saying he had spent nights until three 
o'clock in the morning studying the draft word for word 



His Life and Work. 6"^ 

and searching for its true meaning. What was I to 
do ? He went away leaving me in great anguish of spirit. 
I promised myself that at the next examination I should 
protest with all my might against that desire to find 
proofs in my past to account for present events. I also 
made up my mind to protest against the accusations 
made against me by Lerrouxist Republicans in Masnou 
and Premia, about which I will tell you immediately. I 
could not carry out my purpose. To-day the Judge 
came only to announce that he had finished his report 
of my case, and that one of these days I should be tried 
by the military tribunal. He asked me to choose a de- 
fender from among the list of officers, none of whom 
I knew. I protested in vain. I told him I had much to 
say against the actions of the police, who had offered 
money to a person that knew me to make her state some- 
thing against me, and I had much to say about the 
motives that had impelled the Lerrouxists to declare 
against me. The Judge allowed me nothing, saying that 
the military law is not like the civil law. Then all's over ! 
I am going to be tried. Tried ( ?) some fine day, by men, 
I greatly fear, whose minds are not sufficiently unpreju- 
diced calmly to judge of the deeds with which I am 
charged. 

Here, according to the Judge, is the serious thing 
against me : 

AT MASNOU AND PREMIA. 

On Wednesday, the 28th of July, I went to Masnou, 
a village two kilometers distant from Mas Germinal, to 
get shaved, as I was in the habit of doing twice a week. 
As soon as I reached the barber's the shop filled up with 
people to see me, as the rumor was current that I was 
directing the movement at Barcelona — a circumstance of 
which I was not aware. I quickly made those people 
understand that I had nothing to do with it at all, — 
but, on the contrary, was wanting to get news from 
Barcelona, to learn if the shops were open, as I wanted 
to go see my book shop as soon as the strike was over. 
Just then a towboat passed with some people belonging 
in Masnou who were coming from Barcelona and who 
were to land at Premia, a village two kilometers beyond 
Masnou, they not being allowed to land at Masnou. Then 



68 Francisco Ferrer, 

I asked a certain Puig Llarch, — who had just stated that 
he had succeeded in cahning a crowd that had wanted to 
go to excess in its demonstration, on which account he 
had been congratulated by the Mayor of Masnou, — if he 
cared to go to Premia with me to learn something about 
the state of things in Barcelona from some of the people 
just arriving from there. This Llarch is the president 
of the Republican Committee of Masnou. He accepted, 
and we went to Premia ; but the people had not yet 
landed, and we returned, he to Masnou and I to ]\Iongat. 
Naturally, during the five or ten minutes that we re- 
mained in Premia, we were surrounded by a good many 
persons who asked us for news, and we them, as one 
does in such circumstances anywhere. Very well ! They 
want to make a big thing out of this visit, because this 
Puig of Masnou declared to the authorities that I had 
proposed to him to further the Barcelona movement and 
to burn the convent and the church at Masnou — which 
is not at all true. Afterward, the Republican Mayor of 
Premia, one Casas, who appears to have been among the 
people that came around us, comes and declares that 
I had proposed to him to proclaim the republic at Premia 
and to burn the convent and the church — which is also 
false. The Judge confronted me with these two scoun- 
drels, who persisted in what they had said despite my 
protests, in which I reminded them that we had simply 
exchanged the usual words of the day : "What is going 
on? What do you know about, here or there? What 
are the people saying?" 

I shall continue with my account to-morrow if I can. 
I am too tired to keep on now. All I shall add is. that 
the month of the incowmunicado was very hard. In 
an infected place, without air or light and convicts' fare 
to eat, one must be very strong indeed to have pulled 
through. 

Regards to all, all, all. -r- t- 

*• ' F. Ferrer. 

^ .r , ^, , A„ . October 6, looo. 

To Madame Charles Albert. ^^^ 

Dear Madam Albert : — Please tell Charles that, as proof 
of the ill will the Judge or his superiors bear toward me. 
I have just been told that the Judge withdrew the author- 
ization he gave the prison superintendent to place fifty 



His Life and Work. 69 

francs at my disposal for my personal needs — stamps, 
writing paper, telegrams, etc. What is more astonishing, 
he refused to allozv my counsel to present a collection of 
the works of the Modern School, for which I had asked, 
that he might he able to account for the bad faith of the 
clericals in fighting the Modern School. Thus they al- 
together zvithdrczv my counsel's means of defence. 

In yesterday's letter addressed to Mme. L.* I made a 
list of the papers in my case, in which there is no charge. 
The Judge searched everywhere, but could find nothing 
against me. Finally he was obliged to turn for proofs to 
the Attorney-General, who had said that I was the leader 
of the rebellion. The Attorney-General, in his turn, was 
compelled to admit that he had no proofs, but that he had 
heard people say so. 

My counsel is sure of my acquittal so far as the facts 
are concerned, but he is afraid the court may permit 
itself to be influenced by the evil atmosphere created 
about me. Liberty is confined to the reactionary press, 
which writes against me. As for the liberals, they can- 
not say a word in my favor. Well, then? 

My counsel ought to be helped by the publication of 
these facts. 

With regards to all, F. Ferrer. 

As late as October 8th Ferrer assured Soledad in a 
letter that he would surely be set at liberty. He shared 
the fate of all idealists — absolute inability to comprehend 
the gravity of reality. 

"No reason to worry," he wrote in a letter dated Octo- 
ber 2nd, "you know I am absolutely innocent. To-day 
I am particularly hopeful and joyous ; it is the first time 
I can write to you, and the first time since my arrest that 
I can bathe in the rays of the sun streaming generously 
through my cell window. You, too, must be joyous : I 
will be free." Eleven days later he was dead. 
Vi «? ^ 

Education is always imposing, violating, constraining; 
the real educator is he who can best protect the child 
against his (the teacher's) own ideas, his peculiar whims; 
he who can best appeal to the child's own energies. — 
Francisco Ferrer. 



* This letter never reached its destination. 



yo Francisco Ferrer^ 

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF FERRER'S DEATH 

By Emma Goldman. 



N 



EVER before in the history of the world has one 
man's death so thoroughly united struggHng man- 
kind. 

Never before has one man's death called forth such a 
universal cry of indignation. 

Never before has one man's death so completely torn 
the veil from the sinister face of the hydra-headed mon- 
ster, the Catholic Church. 

Never before in the history of the world has one man's 
death so shaken the thrones of the golden calf, and 
spread ghastly fear among its worshippers. 

One solitary death, yet more powerful than a million 
cringing lives. More powerful even than that black 
spectre which, for almost two thousand years, has tor- 
tured man's soul and poisoned his mind. 

Francisco Ferrer stretched in the ditch at Montjuich, 
his tender, all-too-loving heart silenced by twelve bullets 
— yet speaking, speaking in a voice so loud, so clear, so 
deep. . . . Wherein lies the secret of this wonderful phe- 
nomenon ? 

Francisco Ferrer, the Anarchist and teacher? Yes, 
but there were other Anarchists and teachers, Louise 
Michel and Elisee Reclus, for instance, beloved by many. 
Yet why has their death not proved such a tremendous 
force ? 

Francisco Ferrer, the founder of the I^Iodcrn School? 
But, then, the Modern School did not originate with 
Francisco Ferrer, though it was he who carried it to 
Spain. The father of the Modern School is Paul Robin, 
the latter-day Dr. Pascal. — old in years, with the spirit 
of Spring, tender and loving, he taught modern methods 
of education long before Ferrer. He organized the first 
Modem School at Cempuis, near Paris, wherein children 
found a home, a warm, beautiful atmosphere. 

Again, there is Sebastian Faure and his Beehive. He, 
too. has founded a Modern School, a free, happy, and 
harmonious place for children. There are scores of mod- 



His Life and Work. 71 

ern schools in France, yet no other man's death will act 
as a fertilizing force as that of Francisco Ferrer. 

Was Ferrer's influence so great because of a lifetime 
of devoted effort? During eight years his heroic spirit 
strove to spread the light in the dark land of his birth. 
For eight years he toiled, ceaselessly, to rescue the child 
from the destructive influence of superstition. One hun- 
dred and nine schools with seventy thousand pupils 
crowned the gigantic efforts of our murdered comrade, 
while three hundred and eight liberal schools sprang into 
being, thanks to his beneficial influence. Yet all this and 
more fails to account for the tremendous volcano that 
swept the civilized world at Francisco Ferrer's death. 

His trial was a farce. The evidence against him per- 
jured. But was there ever a time when the State hesi- 
tated to resort to perjury when dealing with opponents? 
Was there ever a time when it exercised justice toward 
those who endangered its stronghold? The State is the 
very embodiment of injustice and perjury. Some make 
a pretence at fairness : Spain was brazen ; that is all. 

What, then, is the secret of the phenomenon? 

Driven from its omnipotent position of open crime by 
the world's progress, the Catholic Church had not ceased 
to be a virulent poison within the social body. Its Bor- 
gia methods merely became more hidden, more secret, 
yet none the less malignant and perfidious. Cowed into 
apparent submission, it had not dared since the days of 
Huss and Bruno to openly demand a noble victim's blood. 
But at last, blinded by arrogance and conceit and the in- 
satiable thirst for martyrs' blood, the Catholic Church 
forgot the progress of the world, forgot the spirit of our 
age, forgot the growth of free ideas. As of old, it was 
the Jesuit hand that stretched forth its bloody fingers to 
snatch its victim. It was the Archbishop of Barcelona 
who, in a statement signed by the prelates of the Church, 
first denounced Ferrer and demanded his life. As of old, 
Inquisition methods were used in the incarceration and 
mock trial of Ferrer. No time was to be given the pro- 
gressive world to check the premeditated murder. Has- 
tily and secretly was the martyr assassinated. Full well 
the Church knew that the dead cannot be saved. 

In vain the frantic efforts of Church and State to con- 



y^ Francisco Ferrer, 

nect Francisco Ferrer with the uprising at Barcelona. 
In vain their delirious cries defaming the character of the 
dead. In vain the scurrilous attacks of their harlots upon 
the ideas and comrades of Ferrer — attacks which have 
now reached even the American press. 

Before the awakened consciousness of mankind the 
world over the Catholic Church stands condemned as the 
instigator and perpetrator of the foul crime committed at 
Montjuich. It is this awakened human consciousness 
which has resurrected Francisco Ferrer. 

Therein lies the secret of the force of one man's death, 
of one solitary man in the ditch of Montjuich. 

«? 5^ «s' 

THE IMMORTALITY OF FERRER 

By W. M. van der Weyde, 
Secretary Francisco Ferrer Association. 

THE most vital figure, the strongest force and the 
greatest personality in the world of radicalism 
to-day is that of the man who at Montjuich calmly 
"sleeps the sleep that knows no waking." 

Until that fateful morn one year ago when Francisco 
Ferrer, educator, idealist, liberator, stood in the trench 
behind the gray walls of the Spanish dungeon at Mont- 
juich and faced — with never a flinch — the bullets of a 
company of Spanish soldiers, the world at large knew 
little of this heroic soul and his noble work in humanitv's 
behalf. 

But the shots from the Bourbon rifles were shots whose 
reverberations were heard 'round the world. Every 
corner of the universe gave echo to the horrid voice of 
the muskets. And the rifle blaze that struck Ferrer 
struck, too, each ardent human heart that beats for truth 
and liberty. 

None who knew of Ferrer and of his work believed 
for an instant that the conspiracy of church and state 
in Spain dared kill the great educator on charges that 
were without foundation, charges that were not only false 
and mendacious, but that were actually founded on 
atrocious forgeries. 

When the horrible news came to us that the dastardly 
conspiracy had seen fruition and that Ferrer was mur- 



His Life and Work. 'J}^ 

dered, was a corpse in the Montjuich trenches, the world 
stood aghast — stunned — almost unbelieving. 

The church and state joined hands in this bloody pact, 
and Ferrer was slain as a rebuke to progress and civil- 
ization. The conspirators were so lacking in any element 
of foresight as to believe that the killing of the man 
would effectually put a stop to the Modern School and 
its work. They gave no thought, apparently, to the fact 
that an idea cannot be killed — a thought cannot be anni- 
hilated. 

Ferrer had an idea, a great idea. It will live forever. 

Francisco Ferrer is alive to-day — very much alive. 
More alive is he now than was he before his execution. 
Only the body of the great educator was slain. His spirit 
will have life everlasting. 

Byron, himself a great revolutionary spirit, beautifully 
expressed this thought in the following words, which 
might very well have been prophetically written of our 
twentieth-century martyr : 

"They never fail who die 

In a great cause: the block may soak their gore; 
Their heads may sodden in the sun; their limbs 
Be strung to city gates and castle imlls — 
But still their spirit zvalks abroad. Though years 
Elapse, and others share as dark a doom, 
They but augment the deep and szveeping thoughts 
Which overpower all others, and conduct 
The world at last to freedom/' 

The brutal assassination of Ferrer, far from crushing 
his work, has given it great stimulus. A dozen Amer- 
ican cities are planning Modern Schools on the lines 
of Ferrer's educational work. In several cities here, 
among them New York, Philadelphia and Salt Lake 
City, Ferrer schools have already been started and give 
promise of great success. 

A great revival of radicalism has taken place both 
here and abroad as a result of the Montjuich tragedy. 
Every branch of radical thought has been stimulated. 
Free-thought has received a tremendous impetus the 
world over. 

In Spain (Ferrer's own country) the death knell of 
the rule of Rome has already been sounded. The nation 
is openly in revolt against papal authority. There is now 



74 Francisco Ferrer^ 

an evident determination to oust the clergy and educate 
the people. All this within one year of the assassination 
of Ferrer and as a direct consequence of it ! Ferrer 
gladly would have laid down his life for such a result. 
Rome trembles to-day, and the Pope feels his throne 
crumbling beneath him. 

When the Papacy is but a memory — a foul-smelling 
recollection of barbarity and superstition — the world will 
be honoring the immortal name of Francisco Ferrer. 

The last words of this twentieth-century martyr, an 
ardent expression of hope that his educational work 
would long survive, are being fulfilled : 

"Long live the Modern School !" 

«r' i^ )J« 

ANATOLE FRANCE'S WARNING 

Just previously to the death of Ferrer, Anatole France, 
the greatest living Frenchman of letters, wrote to Alfred 
Naquet : "If Francisco Ferrer be condemned, either by 
a civil or military tribunal, there is not a soul in the wide 
world that will not insist that his judges were not free 
agents, that they acted under orders in sacrificing a just 
man to the hatred of the Party which can never forgive 
him for having consecrated his life to the education of 
the young. For everybody knows full well that Ferrer's 
sole crime consists in this : He founded schools. If he 
is condemned it will be for this offence." 

^ ^ ^ ,: .,^ 

ALFRED NAQUET'S TRIBUTE 

Alfred Naquet, of the Paris Committee of Defence of 
the Victims of the Spanish Repression, wrote, in The 
Nineteenth Century, of the Ferrer tragedy as follows: "I 
do not weep for him ; we are all under sentence of death 
from the moment of our birth, and to die, like Ferrer, 
sacrificed for the most exalted sentiments of humanity, is 
to escape death in order to enter into immortality. Ferrer 
will live forever enshrined in history like all those who 
have fallen for the enfranchisement of human thought — 
the men like Giordano Bruno, Etienne Dolet, John Huss, 
and all the martyrs of the Inquisition of which he is the 
last in order of date, but not in glory." 



) 
His Life and Work. 75 

TRIBUTES OF EMINENT MEN TO FERRER 

THE Francisco Ferrer Association wrote several 
weeks ago to eminent radicals in Europe and 
America for messages to be published in this 
brochure on the first anniversary of Ferrer's death. Re- 
plies were received from the following: 

ERNST HAECKEL: 

"I send you an expression of my warmest sympathy 
with your plan to commemorate the first anniversary of 
the martyrdom of Francisco Ferrer by a great public 
meeting on October 13. 

"I admire in the great Spanish martyr not only an 
excellent Freethinker and founder of the Modern Schools, 
but also one of those heroes of humanity who devote 
their whole lives and forces to the free development and 
progress of the human race. 

"My late illustrious friend, Professor Ernst Abbe, of 
Jena, the celebrated founder of the Carl Zeiss Institute 
at Jena, who was also a talented physicist, monistic phi- 
losopher and social reformer, had quite the same ideas 
and aims as our much-lamented Francisco Ferrer. 

"I hope that the commemoration of these venerable 
benefactors of true humanity and liberators from super- 
stition and clerical tyranny will be of great advantage 
for the propagation of true natural religion." 

Jena, Germany, July, 1910. 

MAXIM GORKY: 

"When the dark power of fanaticism kills before our 
eyes a man for the reason that he honestly and humanely 
labored for the good of humanity, we are all equally 
guilty in that murder. 

"Is not the work of Ferrer familiar and is it not dear 
to us all, the work which aims to increase the number 
of honest and reasoning men in this world? 

"Should we not be close to one another, and give sup- 
port in the moments of dejection and weariness, help in 
the work, and protect one another in danger? We live 
solitary lives, divided not by space, but by the absence 
of an idea that would unite us into a strong army of 
honest men. 



y6 Francisco Ferrer, 

"We are too individualistic ; we esteem one another 
too little ; we often criticize the work of friends, and so 
our enemies murder us one by one. 

"When one of us is killed we complain and we weep. 
It is endless. 

"We would have done better if we had defended the 
living, if we had kept up with his activities from day to 
day, had guessed in advance the danger that could 
threaten him, and had surrounded him with the close 
embrace of friendship and esteem." 

Capri, Italy, August, 1910. 

HAVELOCK ELLIS: 

"I never met Ferrer or came in contact with his work, 
and can, therefore, say little about him, but I am glad 
to be allowed to associate myself with the Ferrer com- 
memoration. 

"We are told by distinguished Spaniards whose opinion 
is entitled to respect that Ferrer was by no means a 
man of great intellectual distinction. It is possible that 
they are right and that we are scarcely entitled to class 
him among those supreme teachers with whom he is 
sometimes grouped. 

"But the evidence of those who knew him best seems 
to show conclusively that he was not only a man of 
great character, but that he possessed a clear vision of 
the special needs of his country at the present time. He 
realized, I take it, that what Spain requires at present 
is not a violent political revolution, but a sound educa- 
tional system on non-clerical lines, with, it seems, a 
stress on the moral side of education. 

"Against immense difficulties, Ferrer devoted himself 
with persistency and success to the establishment of such 
a system of education. His death was due to his devo- 
tion to this cause. 

"I think, therefore, that, whatever Ferrer's limitations 
may have been, he deserves to rank not only among the 
Spanish heroes who have always known how to die, 
but also among those great men who by their inspiring 
example have deserved well of humanity all over the 
world. He is rightly revered as a martyr." 

Carbis Bay, Cornwall, England, August, 1910. 



His Life and Work. yy 

EDWARD CARPENTER: 

"It is high time indeed that the mass populations of 
modern lands should be able to look around, take intelli- 
gent reckoning of their position, and set about the man- 
agement of their own affairs — instead of being kept 
under, in a state of chronic fear and ignorance, by the 
threats of armed Property and the incantations of Re- 
ligion. 

"This liberation is already rapidly taking place in 
America, but in the old countries of Europe it goes 
slowly. In Spain it has gone very slowly hitherto, but 
in the future it will move more rapidly; and the death 
of Ferrer will become the signal of a new era to that 
country and to the world." 

Sheffield, England, August, 1910. 
JACK LONDON: 

"Had the noble Ferrer been killed in any other century 
than this, he would have been but one of the host of 
martyrs. But to be killed as he was killed, by a modern 
state, at the end of the first decade of the twentieth cen- 
tury, is to make his martyrdom not only an anachronism, 
but a startlingly conspicuous historical event. 

"It were as if New England had, in the twentieth 
century, resumed her ancient practice of burning witches. 

"This killing of Ferrer is inconceivable and monstrous. 
And yet it happened. And we stand aghast and cannot 
quite believe. We know it did happen, and yet it is too 
impossible to believe." 

Glen Ellen, Cal., September, 1910. 

UPTON SINCLAIR: 

"Capitalism is a hideous thing in all its aspects, and 
hateful in all the methods by which it seeks to perpetuate 
itself, but it becomes especially hateful when it employs 
superstition and bigotry in its aid and seeks to turn the 
religious instincts of the ignorant people into engines of 
cruelty and oppression. It is doing that to-day in Russia 
and in Spain, and it is well that we who live in America 
should bear in mind that if it does not do so in our 
country, it is simply because it does not dare to. We 
have here many millions of ignorant and helpless for- 
eigners who have been its victims abroad. They bring 



78 Francisco Ferrer^ 

their priests and their ideals with them, and if we pre- 
serve the institutions of freedom in America it will only 
be because we make it our business to free these people 
from the shackles of superstition and guard against the 
slightest attempt at the introduction of repression. Such 
attempts are being made to-day in every part of our 
country, and this, it seems to me, is the lesson which 
we have to learn from the martyrdom of Ferrer. The 
Roman Catholic Church is here, and here, as everywhere 
in the world, it is the enemy of civilization." 

Arden, Del,, September, 1910. 

HUTCHINS HAPGOOD: 

"Heinrich Heine wrote that throughout his life he had 
been possessed by two passions — for fair women and for 
the French Revolution. Francisco Ferrer wrote : 'To love 
a woman passionately; to have an ideal which I can 
serve ; to have the desire to fight until I win — what more 
can I wish or ask?' 

"No one but the poet knows the deeper luxury. Many 
of those men and women we call martyrs are poets about 
human society. As such, they know the deeper luxury 
of life. Ferrer was a martyr. He was a martyr because 
he was a poet of a certain kind. He saw the trans- 
cendent beauty of which human nature is capable, and 
he devoted himself to help us realize that beauty. What 
life could be more luxurious than this? Devotion to fair 
women ; devotion to human liberty and free understand- 
ing? Is there any greater success than this? How many 
men are there to-day in this 'successful' country of ours 
who are as truly successful as Ferrer? Certainly not 
many, perhaps none." 

Spring Lake, New Jersey, September, 1910. 

\iS V£ )ii 

All the value of education rests in respect for the 
phsyical, intellectual, and moral will of the child. Just 
as in science no demonstration is possible save by facts, 
just so there is no real education save that which is 
exempt from all dogmatism, which leaves to the child 
itself the direction of its effort, and confines itself to the 
seconding of that effort. — Francisco Ferrer. 



His Life and Worx. . 79 

THE CHILDREN WITHOUT A TEACHER 

By Jaime Vidal. 

FOR a whole year the poor children of Barcelona 
have been without their proper teacher; during 
twelve long months the sons of the workingmen, 
the sons of poverty, have been in darkest ignorance and 
in danger of falling into the clutch of the religious teach- 
ers, the faker educators, who are in charge of the corrup- 
tion of the young generation. 

The Sons of the Social Revolution are begging for 
their teacher; the boys of Barcelona are thirsting for 
knowledge and starving for light and truth. And they 
ask for their father of the "Escuela Moderna," calling 
in vain for Francisco Ferrer, the great educator, the 
brilliant man, so pitilessly assassinated on October 13th 
for the crime of trying to regenerate the youth of Spain. 
And the little boys and girls who were so splendidly 
educated by the immortal Ferrer are lost in despair, cry- 
ing because of the departure of their generous benefactor 
and kind teacher. 

They cannot read the books of the Modern School any 
more, nor take delight in beautiful histories and interest- 
ing lessons in geography, grammar and arithmetic. 

They don't go any more in vacation time with their 
dear Ferrer to the country to learn the phenomena of 
nature and science, to see the beauty of the scenery from 
the high peaks of the Pyrenees. 

They don't go any more on Sundays to the Temple 
of Knowledge to hear the lectures of kindly professors, 
explaining the laws of nature and the uselessness of wars 
and exploitation. 

The Modern Inquisition succeeded in its plans. It 
wanted to stop the teaching of the Modern School be- 
cause it realized that young people were shown there the 
absurdity of religion, the unjust oppression of the State, 
the murderousness of militarism, and the illegal exploita- 
tion of capitalism. 

The Spanish authorities knew that Ferrer was not the 
type of a popular revolutionist, but they knew he created 
revolutionists for the future, and he was killed because 



8o Francisco Ferrer^ 

he was the teacher of the truth, the educator of poor 
children, not because he took part in the Revokition of 
July. 

How lonj^ will these children be without their proper 
teacher? Has nobody the courage to take up the task 
of Ferrer? 

It is time, comrades, to start in helping the cause for 
which Ferrer died, and if you want to commemorate 
with dignity the anniversary of the assassination of the 
great martyr, you should agitate in behalf of reopening 
the Modern School in Barcelona, and compelling the res- 
toration of Ferrer's property and books, now confiscated 
by the Spanish authorities. 

This is the real and practical way to honor the memory 
of the founder of rational teaching and the disseminator 
of light and wisdom. 

The Spanish tyrants are proud and insolent. Their 
rule is oppressive, and they still control the education of 
the workingman's child. 

The latest news we have from Barcelona is revolting 
and intolerable. A Barcelona comrade writes as follows : 

'T am pleased to know that you are going to com- 
memorate in America the anniversary of the sad event, 
the horrible assassination of our beloved friend, Fran- 
cisco Ferrer, and I like to think he will be commemorated 
throughout the entire world. 

"Here in Spain we will do what we can on the tragic 
date, October 13th, but the repression from the tyrants 
is so strong and heavy that we can hardly breathe." 

x^gitate, comrades ; raise your voice against the injus- 
tice and crimes of the Spanish reaction, compelling, in 
the name of civilization, the education of the young people 
in order that Spain may become a country of culture and 
progress like the rest of the civilized world. 

We must show that the innocent blood of Francisco 
Ferrer is fermenting in strong protest against his assas- 
sins, and that we are not going to permit the continuation 
of the reign of terror and the closure of the Modern 
School in Barcelona. 

Ferrer is dead ; his generous ideals are alive ; and it 
is our duty to keep them in our hearts, and to work, like 
him, for the prompt and complete emancipation of 
humanity. 



His Life and Work. 8i 

A TRIBUTE TO FERRER 

By G. H. B. Ward. 

[Mr. Ward is a Sheffield workingman, a correspondent of The 

Labour Leader, who took a leading part in the agitation in 

England which followed Ferrer's death.] 

Upon a piece of rising ground on French soil at Cer- 
bere, near to the Spanish frontier, there will soon be 
laid a pedestal of shaped stone. On it will stand the 
carved figure of a man, and every Spanish reactionist 
will grind his teeth and every sunburnt Son of Hope will 
raise his head and salute the monument of Francisco 
Ferrer Guardia as he passes by train from Spanish to 
French soil. 

Ferrer died a martyr's death, and for Spain his mar- 
tyrdom signifies the dawning of a brighter day. 

Not to luxury, but to light did he dedicate his life. 
And we who knew and loved him strove to wrest him 
from the murderers' hands. 

Three years ago Ferrer remained for twelve months 
untried in a foulsome cell. When liberated at last there 
came on the wire to some of us his words : "Free. I em- 
brace you." That was on the 12th of June, two years 
ago, and at half-past one in the morning, and never did I 
awake to receive a more welcome birthday gift. Soon 
Ferrer was with us, to the joy of us who knew and loved 
him. Then back to Spain he went to resume his life's 
work of educating the tender mind. 

Then, Christmas time twelve months ago, in Paris, that 
blizzard fight on the Montmartre; the friendly gathering 
in Ferrer's domicile, with much converse on his work ; 
and his kindness to a sufifering friend, who never will 
forget his timely aid. 

And, again, four months ago, when Ferrer was with 
us for a brief while. "They will kill you," we urged. 
"Don't go back to Spain." "I must go to my sick ones," 
he replied. "I must see to my work. Why should they 
harm me? I have done no wrong." 

And back to Spain he went for the last time. They 
arrested him, and his soldier-defender tried to save him, 
but in vain. Then came the bitter mockery of the trial, 
and at the end they slew him. 

Henceforth October 13 is Ferrer's Day. 

Sheffield, November, 1909. 



82 Francisco Ferrer, 

LESTER F. WARD ON SPAIN AND FERRER 

Prof. Lester F. Ward, of Brown University, one of 
the most distinguished sociologists in this or in any coun- 
try, addressed the Sunrise Club, New York, on the sub- 
ject of Ferrer's death, on the evening of December 27, 
1909. After expressing "the sense that we all feel that 
civilization has been assassinated," he went on to say : 

"The question is, why should such an event have hap- 
pened in Spain when we imagine that it could not have 
happened in any other European country? There are 
two European countries in which such events do some- 
times now happen. One is in the extreme northeast and 
the other in the extreme southwest. The causes seem to 
be to some extent the opposite, in the sense that in Russia 
the political power is calling upon the spiritual power to 
support it in its autocratic or despotic rule; whereas in 
the Iberian peninsula the spiritual power is calling upon 
the political power to aid it in keeping back human prog- 
ress. It seems to me that there is an antithesis here which 
is very clear. 

"What is it then that makes such a thing possible in 
Spain? I have before me one simple fact, expressed in 
half a line, which is almost sufificient in and of itself, to 
explain it. It is this : 'Sixty-eight per cent, of the people 
of Spain cannot read.' You have all read that beautiful 
passage of X'ictor Hugo in which he describes the phi- 
losopher meeting on the street in the time of the great 
barricades of Paris a man who was breaking the street 
lamps and doing all the damage he could. The sage ex- 
postulated with him in the most eloquent terms, telling 
him how these modern scientific advances had been 
brought about, explaining the progress of science and 
invention. He said, 'Have you never read history?' and 
gave him a long and eloquent lecture. The man gave his 
answer, and you will all remember what it was, 'Je ne 
sais pas lire!' (I cannot read.) 

"Now, imagine a country in which only every third 
man you meet can read a newspaper? What kind of a 
country would that be? It would be one in which just 
such phenomena as the one we are here to consider to- 
night would be possible. In a country where the percent- 
age of illiteracy is relatively small, such phenomena are 



His Life and Work. 83 

impossible. That, in and of itself, would perhaps be a 
sufficient answer to the general historical question of 
what are the causes that have made it possible for Spain 
to commit such a barbarity in the twentieth century. 

"There is one other element, however, which enters 
strongly into it, quite notably in Spain, perhaps more so 
in Russia, and that is the enormous inequality in intelli- 
gence of the different classes of the people. If all the 
people were unintelligent, a whole country where no one 
could read, things of this kind would not occur, or only 
to a very slight extent. It is the vast contrast between 
a highly intelligent class in a country and a great mass 
of leaden ignorance — it is that, perhaps, more than the 
illiteracy alone. In Russia the students of the universi- 
ties, the poets and literary men, and the artists are on the 
side of human progress and opposed to despotism. In 
Spain it is the same. It is the intelligent classes, the well- 
informed, who are opposed to those spiritual influences, 
mainly, the Catholic church in Spain, which hold back 
civilization. Now it is the dread which this spiritual 
power has of this intellectual power, small as it is, which 
rouses passions and makes these things possible. . . . 

"The special interest in this particular event lies in the 
fact that Ferrer was a martyr to the principle of educa- 
tion. There have been martyrs to religion, and to science, 
but never before was there a martyr to education. . . . 

"What is education? My idea of it is totally different 
from that which prevails in our highest institutions to- 
day. From what I know of Ferrer I mean very nearly 
the same thing by education that he meant by it. I 
define intelligence as 'intellect plus knowledge,' and I 
embody in the word 'knowledge' the whole of education. 
That education which does not give knowledge is not 
education. The whole educational problem in this coun- 
try and all other countries is in a state of utter chaos. 
Education means 'the diffusion of knowledge among 
men,' to quote the celebrated phrase of James Smithson. 
It is knowledge that is going to regenerate the world. 
There is only one kind of knowledge, a knowledge of 
this world, of the universe, of our environment, of our 
race — its origin, development, history, and evolution. 
And that is exactly wdiat Ferrer tried to impress upon 
the students of the Modern School." 



84 Francisco Ferrer, 

THE SLAIN PROPHET 

By Prof. Thaddeus B. Wakeman. 

"Render, therefore, unto Caesar the things zvhich are 
Caesar's; and unto God the things which are God's." — 
Matt, xxii, 21. 

WHAT great men are worth becomes known by 
the great message which they deUver to the 
world by their death. What their contempo- 
raries are worth is measured and shown by the way they 
receive and benefit by such messages. 

The atrocious way in which the martyrdom of Fran- 
cisco Ferrer has been made a fact, the all-important mes- 
sage which was the glory of his life, the cause of his 
martyr-death, and his legacy by his last words and his 
will and testament to his survivors, impose a solenm duty 
upon them which they cannot escape. His murder by 
the powers of darkness is a direct challenge to the powers 
of progress and light which must be met in such a way 
that such atrocities shall be absolutely impossible in the 
future. Unless this is done, and done effectively, the 
free-minded people of civilization, indeed the whole 
modern world, will pass down through the ages under 
an indelible stigma of disgrace — a disgrace which touches 
every intelligent person now living and which can never 
be effaced ! 

What then was this life-object of Ferrer which brought 
to him death, and to us the first and main duty of life? 
It was the fact that the human children of this earth are 
its heirs and possessors, and that their highest duty is 
to administer its and their affairs so as to secure the 
highest liberty, welfare and progress of "each and all" 
in every succeeding generation. To this end, like the 
ideal Christ of old (Matt, xxii, 21), he spent his life in 
teaching that the selfish greed and power of old Rome 
should be separated, and receive no tribute from the only 
God, the ALL that is. And this separation of the Romish 
church and "Spiritual Power" from the temporal state 
must begin by the education of all of the children of 
mankind into a general knowledge of the laws and proc- 
esses of this world into which they have been born, and 
of the laws and principles of social, moral and economic 



His Life and Work. 85 

well-being of the state, republic, or community of which 
they are born as parts. This secular, scientific, human, 
practical education of the Spanish people, commencing 
with the young, was Ferrer's enthusiasm, religion, and 
object, and because it was, the powers of darkness hunted 
up, made up, and bore "false witness" against him and 
slew him after the mockery of a trial — a trial which that 
reported of the ideal Christ of old puts to shame. 

What was the head and front of his offending? It 
was that his Modern Secular Schools were succeeding. 
There grew up out of his efforts "An International 
League for the Rational Education of Children," of which 
Ferrer was made president, and Professor Haeckel, of 
Germany, and Professor Sergi, the great Italian anthro- 
pologist, were among the vice-presidents. We read of 
these schools of his and of the republican model exceed- 
ing ninety in number, and of school festivals attended by 
1,700 children. Care was taken to avoid all matters of- 
fensive to the government. Nothing tending to disorder 
or violence was allowed or thought of. What was taught 
in ways suitable to the advance of the pupils was this 
curriculum or program of subjects and illustrated studies : 

1. The Evolution of Worlds. 

2. The Story of the Earth. 

3. The Origin of Life. 

4. The Evolution of Living Things. 

5. The Factors of Organic Evolution. 

6. The Origin and Development of Man. 

7. Thought. 

8. The History of Civilization. 

9. Religions. 

10. Laws and Morals. 

11. Social Organizations. 

12. Economic Systems. 

13. The Evolution of Technics and Art. 

14. The Factors of Social Evolution. 

15. Man and the World. 

The first word of this program, "Evolution," meant 
anathema and death to the teacher as soon as the Romish 
church in Spain could get him in its power. This was 
done by charging him with participation in the uprisings' 
of the people in Barcelona; first in 1906, when Ferrer 



86 Francisco Ferrer, 

was acquitted, and in 1909, when a court-martial under 
church domination refused to hear his defense and or- 
dered his execution. The old Inquisition used to say, 
"Without the shedding of blood," which meant death 
by fire. Ferrer was shot. He was to kneel with band- 
aged eyes. He asked to stand and receive death with 
open eyes. He was allowed to stand, but not unbandaged. 
He dared to face death unflinching. But did his execu- 
tioners fear to have their instruments look him in the 
eye? Fortunately their bullets through his brain meant 
instant death. 

From every civilized people there rose at once cries 
of horror and indignation ! Here is the tragedy of Bruno 
reenacted in our era of science and humanity ! What 
can we, what can humanity do that it may never happen 
again ? What it can and must do is to stand together 
so that, by union of peoples and their nations, Spain 
and its church shall learn that the lesson and message 
of Ferrer is the condition that humanity noiv imposes 
upon rulers who would continue to govern or to exist! 
There must be a real practical separation of church and 
state, and the state must do the work that Ferrer began, 
of making known to each rising generation the zvorld 
of which it is really a part, and the conditions of a happy 
lot, fate, and duty in it. — From The Truth Seeker. 

ife' W? «r 

H. PERCY WARD'S TRIBUTE 

Mr. H. Percy Ward, Rationalist lecturer in Giicago 
and author of a brochure, "Why Spain Shot Ferrer," 
writes us as follows 

"On August 15, 1907, it was my pleasure and honor 
to preside over a meeting of welcome to Ferrer held 
under the auspices of the Liverpool Secular Society 
(England), of which I was the lecturer and organizer. 
He was brimful of enthusiasm, and refinement shone 
through his every feature, word and act. It will ever 
be one of the proudest recollections of my life that I 
was privileged to grasp the hand and listen to the voice 
of this noble martyr for Freethought. 

"How can Freethinkers best avenge the murder of 
Ferrer? With the bomb or bullet, the dagger or dyna- 



His Life and Work. 87 

mite of the assassin? No! But with the bomb of edu- 
cation, the bullet of agitation, the dagger of organization, 
and the dynamite of Freethought. These are the weapons 
which, sooner or later, will send priestly tyranny and 
religious superstition to their everlasting doom." 

«l «l «l 

FERRER'S WILL 

Ferrer's will, written in the chapel of Montjuich for- 
tress on the night before he was shot, opens as follows : 

"I protest with all possible energy against the unexpected 
position in which I have been placed, declaring my conviction 
that my innocence will be publicly acknowledged in a very short 
time. I desire that on no occasion, whether near or remote, nor 
for any reason whatsoever, shall demonstrations of a political 
or religious character be made before my remains, as I consider 
the time devoted to the dead would be better employed in im- 
proving the condition of the living, most of whom stand in 
great need of this. 

"As for my remains, I regret that there is no crematory in 
this town, as there is in Milan, Paris, and so many other cities, 
as I should have asked that thev should be incinerated there, 
while expressing the hope that at no distant date cemeteries will 
disappear for the benefit of health, and be replaced by crema- 
tories or some other system that may even better admit of the 
rapid destruction of corpses. 

"I also wish my friends to speak little or not at all about 
me, because idols are created when men are praised, and this is 
very bad for the future of the human race. Acts alone, no mat- 
ter by whom committed, ought to be studied, praised, or blamed. 
Let them be praised in order that they may be imitated when 
they seem to contribute to the common weal ; let them be cen- 
sured when they are regarded as injurious to the general well- 
being, so that they may not be repeated." 

Then follow elaborate instructions as to the disposition 
of his money and the furtherance of his educational plans. 
Ferrer's last thoughts were all of his schools. He ap- 
pointed as his executors Christobal Litran and William 
Heaford. To Soledad Villa franca he bequeathed most 
of his personal property, and to Lorenzo Portet his pub- 
lishing house and business. Sehor Portet, who has been 
living in Liverpool. England, was designated as, in a 
special sense, the successor of Ferrer, and he has lately 
gone to Barcelona to take up his dead chieftain's work. 



88 Francisco Ferrer, 

MESSAGES THAT FERRER WROTE ON THE 
PRISON WALL 

When Ferrer was imprisoned in Madrid in 1907 on a 
charge of complicity in Mateo Morral's attempted assas- 
sination of the King and Queen of Spain, he wrote the 
following expressions of his faith on the prison walls : 

"As long as a nation harbors a body of men authorized 
to inflict punishment, as long as there are prisons in 
which such a body can carry out those punishments, that 
nation cannot call itself civilized." 

"If we pass from the prisoner to the jailers who guard 
him, from them to the judges who condemned him, from 
them to the policemen who arrested him, and to the police 
authorities who held him, from them to all who brought 
complaint against him, and to what is called society in 
general ; if we do this and study the conscience of each, 
we shall find, in all probability, that the conscience of the 
prisoner is the most serene of all." 

"Every one of us is partially responsible for every 
crime that is committed ; and in the total number of those 
responsible each of us bears a guilt greater than does he 
who commits it." 

In a long series of aphorisms, headed "The Rational- 
ist Doctrine," Ferrer says : 

"Never hope to get anything from others. Remem- 
ber that the wise and the powerful, even if they give 
you the most beautiful things, make slaves of you at 
the same time." 

"To seek to establish the accord of all men in love and 
fraternity, without distinction of sex or class — that is the 
great task of humanity. To it we have all devoted our- 
selves in the rationalistic schools, where we teach our 
pupils only that which is based on scientific truths." 

"These same truths, vouched for as such by experience 
and by the teachings of history will eventually point out 
to the disinherited classes the road to victory." 

"And here is another truth for them : The working 
classes will emancipate themselves from slavery when, 
convinced of their strength, they take the direction of 
their affairs into their own hands without trusting any 
more to the favored classes." 

"If men were reasoning creatures, they would not allow 



His Life and Work. 89 

injustices against themselves or against their fellow-men, 
nor would they feel any desire to inflict such injustices." 

"Let no more gods or exploiters be worshipped or 
served ! Let us all learn instead to love each other !" 

"My ideal is teaching — teaching that is rational and 
scientific — teaching like that of the 'Escuela Moderna/ 
which humanizes and dignifies." 

"To love a woman passionately ; to have an ideal which 
I can serve ; to have the desire to fight until I win — what 
more can I wish or ask ?" 

On another wall is a second long string of inscriptions, 
the gist of which is this : 

"From the days of Quevedo and Montjuich, scribes, 
judges, and other officials have been savagely satirized 
and very justly execrated ; but never, through mere read- 
ing about them in books, did I get the remotest inkling 
of what, through no wish of my own, I have found them 
in reality to be." 

"It is, indeed, sad to observe on every hand fellow- 
creatures abandoned to their fate ; it is sad to reflect on 
the inhuman end that awaits aged workmen ; but is there 
in existence anything more barbarous, more revolting, to 
men of honest conscience, than to see human life and 
liberty dependent on the whim of worthless beings?" 

Elsewhere appears this : 

"So long as there is no change in the system which 
has obtained until the present time ; so long as no efforts 
are made to avoid, at any cost, the crimes which are now 
liable to punishment, by introducing a fraternal organi- 
zation of society based on love; so long will everybody, 
condemned in the name of justice, be unjustly con- 
demned." 

«S ^ )}i 

The school imprisons children physically, intellectually 
and morally, in order to direct the development of their 
faculties in the paths desired. The education of to-day 
is nothing more than drill. I like the free spontaneity 
of a child who knows nothing, better than the world- 
knowledge and intellectual deformity of a child who has 
been subjected to our present education. — Francisco 
Ferrer. 



90 Francisco Ferrer, 

FERRER AND THE TWO ORPHAN BOYS 

Jaime \'idal, who knew Ferrer in Barcelona, tells a 
story of how the founder of the ^Modern School went to 
]\Iontjuich prison a few years ago, after a wholesale 
shooting- of radicals there, to take charge of two children 
whose father had been killed. On his way back to Paris 
he saw in a station of Port-Bon, on the French border, 
Lieutenant Portas, the man who inflicted tortures wath 
redhot irons on the bodies of the Montjuich prisoners. 

Ferrer placed the two orphan boys face to face with 
the lieutenant, saying : "Look at this man ; he is the mur- 
derer of your father." It is needless to say that a sensa- 
tion was created among the travelers at the station, and 
the lieutenant, with shame reddening his face, attempted 
to attack Ferrer, throwing one of his gloves in the pro- 
fessor's face as an invitation to fight a duel. 

Ferrer serenely accepted the challenge, saying that he 
would wait for the lieutenant on the France-Belgian 
border. The officer never appeared at the appointed place, 
and Ferrer continued his journey to Paris, where the boys 
were placed in school, receiving from the friend of their 
father both education and affectionate care. 

«? it' Vi 

IN COMMEMORATION OF FERRER 

Ten thousand people took part in a recent demonstra- 
tion in memory of Ferrer, organized in connection with 
the Free-Thought Congress in Brussels. At half-past 
ten on August 23, 1910, the foreign delegates took up 
the places reserved for them in the Maison du Roi. Later 
representatives of about 60 of the Belgian Freethought 
Societies — which to-day number some 290, representing 
some 20,cxx) members — marched into the Grand Place, 
each with its banner flying and with numerous bands. 
When the groups were assembled in the square, a large 
marble slab let into the pavement at the foot of the steps 
of the historic liaison du Roi was unveiled, bearing a 
suitable inscription. The presence of Mme. Soledad 
Villafranca, a beautiful woman, but a pathetic figure in 
her simple black dress, lent additional interest to an 
impressive ceremony. 



His Life and Work. 91 

A MODERN SCHOOL IN AMERICA 

THE prospectus of the Modern School established in 
Salt Lake City under the leadership of William 
Thurston Brown, who lately resigned from the 
Unitarian pulpit, has been issued. The preamble to the 
prospectus says : 

"The time has come for a definite, concerted movement 
in which open-minded, free-thinking people can heartily 
unite for the spread of modern scientific knowledge as 
applied to the problems of personal and social life. 

"The greatest enemy of human life is ignorance — its 
greatest friend is knowledge. 

"The difference between Germany and Spain, for ex- 
ample, is the difference between knowledge and ignorance. 
Germany leads the world in science — and in the growth 
and power of its democracy. Spain is the most illiterate 
nation in Europe — and its population is the most en- 
slaved. 

"Ignorance is the mother of tyranny, corruption, moral 
decay and slavery. Knowledge is the only key to power, 
freedom, justice, solidarity. 

"Never before have men faced such menacing prob- 
lems as we are facing : the problems of poverty, graft, 
moral indifference, and the sinister forms of tyranny — 
moral, political, and economic. Unless we destroy these 
evils, they will destroy us. 

"Francisco Ferrer, the Spanish educator and martyr, 
saw clearly that the only way to justice and freedom for 
the people of Spain is through popular knowledge. Igno- 
rant Spain must remain enslaved Spain. Enlightened 
Spain will be free Spain. So he started the Modern 
School, whose sole purpose was to give to the common 
working people of Spain the facts and teachings of mod- 
ern science. 

"To a church that lives by superstition and a state 
based on ignorance and exploitation the Modern School 
was a capital crime, and its founder was shot. 

"The problems of America are as critical for America 
as those of Spain are for Spain. At bottom, they are the 
same. And here, as there, the only road to justice and 
freedom is through popular knowledge of evolutionary 
science." 



92 Francisco Ferrer^ 

THE ORGANIZATION OF THE AMERICAN 
FERRER ASSOCIATION 

The Francisco Ferrer Association, planned in January, 
1910, and discussed at a preliminary meeting held at the 
home of Dr. Edward Bond Foote, on Lexington avenue, 
New York, May 20, was regularly organized at an open 
meeting, Friday evening, June 3, to which all interested 
in Ferrer had been invited, and which was advertised in 
advance in the newspapers. The announcement called 
for a gathering at the Harlem Liberal Alliance rooms, on 
West ii6th street. The hall was well filled when the tem- 
porary chairman, Harry Kelly, called the meeting to 
order. 

The necessity of a Ferrer Association in America was 
explained by Mr. Kelly, who also elucidated the aims and 
scope of the proposed organization. 

Jaime Vidal. a personal friend of Ferrer, told of his 
acquaintance with the martyred teacher, explained the 
workings of the Modern School in Spain and described 
Ferrer's personal work in educating the new generation. 
He told, too, of the work already accomplished by a little 
group of Ferrer enthusiasts in New York, who have been 
for several months gathering material for a competent 
biography of the Spanish educator, a work that shall tell 
everything about him, much of which the public does not 
yet know, but is eager to learn. 

Leonard Abbott, one of the editors of Current Liter- 
ature, and president of the Thomas Paine National His- 
torical Association, then spoke. Mr. Abbott expressed 
the opinion that Ferrer was in the line of historic succes- 
sion with the world's greatest martyrs — Socrates, Christ, 
Bruno, Huss and others. The killing of Ferrer was one 
of the most dramatic of all of the memorable martyrdoms 
of history. Mr. Abbott said : 

"It was a crime against civilization, in an era when 
such things were supposed impossible. The world stood 
aghast, and the world protested. That Ferrer was chosen 
as the Spanish government's victim proved his immense 
importance. The government and the Catholic church 
conspired to put him out of the way. The government 
knew exactly what it was doing, but perhaps underesti- 
mated the aftermath." 



His Life and Work 



93 



Mr. Abbott told of the work now going- on abroad for 
perpetuating Ferrer's name and his labors in humanity's 
behalf. "The most eminent European scientists, literary 
men and notables in various pursuits," Mr. Abbott said, 
"have lent their names to the great Ferrer movement 
abroad. In Brussels a monument to the radical martyr 
is to be unveiled. Other memorials in other European 
cities are planned. 

"This American meeting is the first effort made in this 
country to establish an organization to honor Ferrer and 
promulgate his ideas and work. It is time that this work 
was undertaken in America." 

Mr. Abbott was succeeded on the platform by Alex- 
ander Berkman, founder and teacher of the Ferrer Sun- 
day School for children in New York. Mr. Berkman 
spoke very interestingly on Ferrer's Modern Schools in 
Spain. He said that he felt sure Ferrer would wish no 
granite or marble shaft as a monument to perpetuate his 
name, that what would best please Ferrer, could he but 
guide our thoughts, would be a perpetuation in America 
of the "Modern Schools." Ferrer's whole life, Mr. Berk- 
man said, was centered in and devoted to the rational 
education of children, the educating of children on such 
broad lines that no knowledge is forced upon them, no 
ideas crammed into their heads, but the children allowed 
to intelligently educate themselves, forming their own 
ideas and imbibing natural notions of everything about 
them. Mr. Berkman said that it seemed to him extremely 
important that before modern schools for children were 
established in America, normal schools, so to speak, were 
founded in which the teachers for the children were first 
adequately trained on the very lines promulgated and fol- 
lowed by Francisco Ferrer. 

Freethought, said Mr. Berkman, had already made 
some impress on the children of America. What all chil- 
dren are in need of, desperately in need of, is a system of 
education that will free them from their prejudices, preju- 
dices acquired both from their companions at plav and 
from their homes. 

An election of officers for the ensuing year then took 
place, all present participating. The following officers 
were unanimously elected for the term ending June i 
1911 : 



94 Francisco Ferrer^ 

President — Leonard Abbott. 

Secretary — William M. van der Weyde. 

Treasurer — Dr. Edward Bond Foote. 

The organization was formally named "The Francisco 
Ferrer Association." 

Upon vote it was determined that a further meeting of 
the association should take place two weeks hence and 
that thereafter one meeting, to hear reports of the asso- 
ciation's work, etc., would be held every three months. 
It was also determined to commemorate the day of Fer- 
rer's martyrdom, every October 13. A vote was taken on 
the matter of membership dues, and it was decided to 
make the initiation fee one dollar, and annual member- 
ship one dollar. About fifty of those present handed in 
their names and addresses for membership. 

The Francisco Ferrer Association plans as its special 
objects : 

( 1 ) The purchase and translation of text-books used 
in the Modern School. 

(2) The organization of new Modern Schools in 
America. 

(3) The publication of a final and authoritative biog- 
raphy of Ferrer in English. A committee consisting of 
Helen Tufts Bailie, Jaime Vidal and Leonard Abbott is 
already in touch with Ferrer's closest associates, and pro- 
poses to send a competent man to Barcelona in the near 
future to gather material at first hand. 

^ ^ ^ 

Our own ideal is certainly that of science, and we de- 
mand that we be given the power to educate the child 
by favoring its development through the satisfaction of 
all its needs, in proportion as these arise and grow. — 
Francisco Ferrer. 

"Time respects only those institutions which time itself 
has played its part in building up. That which violence 
wins for us to-day, another act of violence may wrest 
from us to-morrow. Those stages of progress are alone 
durable which have rooted themselves in the mind and 
conscience of mankind before receiving the final sanction 
of legislators. The only means of realizing what is good 
is to touch it by education and propagate it by example." 
— Francisco Ferrer. 



His Life and Work. 95 

PUBLICATIONS 



OF THE 



Francisco Ferrer Association 



"The Modern School" 

an essay by Ferrer, outlining the ideas on which his whole edu- 
cational system was based ; and 

1 he Kational liducation of (children" 

a brochure describing the aims of the International League for 
the Rational Education of Children, which Ferrer founded. 

Price 5 cents each ; in quantities of 100 or more 3 cents each ; 
postage prepaid. 

Francisco Ferrer Post Cards 

Nine post cards in the set, including excellent portraits of 
Francisco Ferrer and Soledad Villafranca, notable quotations 
from Ferrer's writings, as well as cartoons both humorous and 
tragic. Each set in an envelope. 

Price 20 cents per set of nine cards, or in quantities of 100 or 
more sets 123^ cents a set; postage prepaid. 

Portrait of Francisco Ferrer 

from an original drawing by Kreighof. The very best portrait 
of Ferrer that has been made. Suitable for framing, 11^x16 
inches. 

Price 25 cents each; in quantities of 100 or more 15 cents; 
postage prepaid. 

In ordering address 

FRANCISCO FERRER ASSOCIATION 

W. M. Van der Weyde, Secretary 

241 Fifth Avenue, New York 



WRITINGS 



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The Francisco Ferrer Association 

was organized in New York on June 3, 
1910. Its object is "to perpetuate the mem- 
ory and work of Francisco Ferrer." Its 
officers are Leonard D. Abbott, President; 
W. M. van der Weyde, Secretary; Dr. 
E. B. Foote, Treasurer. Its advisory board 
consists of Hutchins Hapgood. Charles 
Edward Russell, Jack London, Upton Sin- 
clair. Emma Goldman. J. G. Phelps Stokes. 
Rose Pastor Stokes, Alden Freeman, and 
Jaime Vidal. So far the Association's 
activities have been confined to collecting 
and imparting, by means of the printed 
page and the public address, accurate in- 
formation concerning the martyred founder 
of the Modern Schools. It has very much 
larger plans in view. All in sympathy are 
invited to communicate with the Secretary 
of the Association, W. M. van der Weyde, 
241 Fifih Avenue, New York. 



